Posts On The Rampage

Maritime Museum and Royal Observatory

2010-12-13T00:44:00.009+05:30

This weekend i happen to be in London and what better way to spend a day than to visit some of the free museums! The plan was to visit the Maritime Museum and the Royal Observatory which also houses a planetarium. Both places have one thing in common - they symbolize man's eternal search for the last frontier; indeed humans have a gene for exploration. I consider myself a seeker too, which explains why i was there. Here is quick summary and some tips on these places.

The Maritime Museum had several nice exhibits, the most famous being Nelson's uniform, Frederick's boat and countless sea-farer artifacts. The theme of exploration and how brave men in Europe risked everything to find new passages to India and the East was the most impressive. The museum has done a great job of bringing those episodes to life, and also set the context behind such expeditions. Exhibits showing how the strengthening Ottoman empire stifled routes to the East forcing Europeans to take to the sea, how the Renaissance era equipped them better and changed their world view, and how the missionary zeal of King Henry of Portugal instigated the likes of Dias and Vasco da Gama to go explore, were all very insightful. If so many cross currents had not come together in history, then I am sure the British would have never come to trade and rule India!

After the museum tour, i made a brisk walk uphill (reminded me of the fast walks during the Rupin Pass trek) to the Royal Observatory. They had a section on the Greenwich Meridian (which was very touristy) and a full fledged Planetarium with regular shows. I skipped both for lack of time, and headed straight to the Astronomy section. The ninety minutes spent here were most rewarding.

One of the good books i read (rather, managed to finish) this year was "The Edge of Reason" by Anil Ananthaswamy. After reading this interview with the author, I bought the book on flipkart (India's Amazon.com). The book moved me and rekindled my childhood interest in astronomy. This interest stems from a basic question that is also deeply spiritual; it starts as "What the hell am i doing in this world?" and soon leads to other questions like, "What is this world?". The book helps you realize how insignificant our world really is in the larger scheme of things in 'The Universe'. Hundreds of billions of galaxies in this universe and the possibility of multiverse i.e, multiple universes (10 to the power of 500, exactly) both flummoxed me and excited me.

Anil's book takes the reader to sites in the world engaged in cutting edge physics and astronomy using various advanced telescopes. The Observatory had a wonderful exhibit (similar to this image) that shows where each such telescope would fit in. Along the large wall there was a sine curve showing the electromagnetic spectrum; one can easily contrast the frequencies of radio, microwave, infrared, visible light, ultraviolet, x-rays and gamma rays. Since we cannot see much outside the visible light and the atmosphere absorbs many of the frequencies, some of these telescopes had to be taken into outer space. The most famous one, of course is the Hubble Telescope. During my previous trip to London three months ago, i was looking for the Observatory but somehow ended up going to the Science Museum, where i saw an IMAX movie featuring the Hubble Telescope. That movie showed pictures of distant galaxies and supernovae that are a slight peek into the beauty and grandeur of the universe.

The Observatory has done a decent job of explaining many of the basic concepts about the universe (Big Bang, black holes, etc). It was nice to see several pre-teen kids swarm around some of the exhibits. There was a nice 'Make you own Launch Vehicle' to explore Venus, a comet OR one of the moons of Uranus; a team of three individuals had to choose two spacecraft objects each and then launch the vehicle. The launch would fail if a wrong combination of components was chosen. There was also a telescope like exhibit which allowed you to zoom into one of four cosmic objects.

Moving down to the ground floor, there was a display of images by the winners of 'Astro Photographer of the Year' contest conducted in association with Flickr. The images were literally 'out of the world'. Flickr also has an Astrophotography group that is worth checking. If you are visiting London, then i strongly recommend a visit to the Maritime Museum and the Royal Observatory. And do read Anil Ananthaswamy's book.

India's Employability Gap and the IT industry

2010-11-17T08:17:00.008+05:30

Last Saturday I was on a panel titled 'Plugging The Employability Gap', hosted by the two year startup NiceFit at the Centre for Organization Development. The topic is hot, with the economy grappling with shortage of skilled manpower as growth resumes. The focus was on the IT industry, as it is on of the largest sources of jobs in the organized sector. This industry has grown from $4b in 1998 (1% of GDP then) to 70b in 2010 (6% of GDP). It accounts for 16% of India's exports and exports 70% of its output. More than 2.3 million are directly employed (30% of them women) and another 9 million (4 x factor) are indirectly employed.

With growth kicking back in, the industry plans to hire 120,000 - 150,000 in the current fiscal year. If growth continues at the present rate of 20% per annum, the industry will employ a mind boggling 30 million by 2020! This year alone, AP's IT industry needs to hire 90,000 people to meet growth (20%) and attrition (10%). The obvious question is where will these future employees come from? India is witnessing a demographic dividend and will have several hundred million youth coming into the job market. But these statistics may not convey the true picture, as it is said that only 1 in 4 engineering graduates are actually employable today.

A closer look at the numbers in the Hyderabad region (AP state) show that there are 650 colleges graduating 250,000 engineers - 25% of India's output. AP also accounts for 30% of India's overall 3.5 million graduate output across streams. Of the engineering output, 25% get into campus jobs (yes, 1 in 4). Another 10-15% go for higher studies and 8 - 9% end up being self employed (some voluntarily, others due to lack of 'options'). That leaves a whopping more than 50% having nothing to do!

To sum, in the state of AP alone, there are 125,000 engineers (50% of the college output) without jobs while the local IT industry needs 90,000 people but can only hire 62,000 from colleges (25% of the output). This is a net shortfall of 30,000. If supply of talent cannot meet up with the demand, then the rosy growth story will not materialise.

The industry will be forced to ramp up in other geographies (China, Eastern Europe, Philippines etc). There will be more backward integration ie, industry will build its own education infrastructure. Infosys' Global Education Center is an example, 'graduating' 50000 people through its intense six month boot-camp over the last three years.

More in a subsequent post on what it takes to plug this 'Employability Gap'.

Cricket and Tongue Twisters

2010-11-15T07:48:00.011+05:30

Yesterday I went with a group of friends to see the India New - Zealand cricket test match. Though Sachin Tendulkar got out almost as soon as entered the stadium, local boy VVS Laxman (a true hero and a humble man) held the fort and pushed India's score along. This was my first international live match in a stadium and i was impressed, even without the zing-bang of a T-20 match (DJs. dancers, music etc). We were seated not very far from the commentary box and the view of the pitch and batsmen was close enough and the weather initially was good.

A welcome break to the match viewing (just as the weather got really hot, and Rahul 'The Wall' Dravid started to make the match boring), was the Intel 'Toungue Twister challenge. A television crew from Neosports which is running a promo for Intel spotted our group and called us in for the contest. Perhaps they chose us since were the only few in the crowd, not salivating at the sight of the actress Priyamani, who was seated in the box directly behind us. Such 'segmentation' could be topic of another post!

They made us sign 'waiver of rights' forms for the video shoots they were about to take - very professional indeed. The anchor walked in - dressed in all red and black. Thanks to the show i was able to discover a talent in me - that of reeling out tongue twisters. We were given three tongue twisters, in increasing order of difficulty (starting with "Fast faster fastest Smartest Smarter Smart"). I managed to reel them out and the prize was free tickets to the remaining two days of the test match. Good fun, and i tried some with my daughter when i was back home (say "English engine" ten times)!

Go for the difficult option

2010-11-09T22:41:00.001+05:30

Love this gem from Paul Graham:

Use difficulty as a guide not just in selecting the overall aim of your company, but also at decision points along the way. At Viaweb one of our rules of thumb was run upstairs. Suppose you are a little, nimble guy being chased by a big, fat, bully. You open a door and find yourself in a staircase. Do you go up or down? I say up. The bully can probably run downstairs as fast as you can. Going upstairs his bulk will be more of a disadvantage. Running upstairs is hard for you but even harder for him.

What this meant in practice was that we deliberately sought hard problems. If there were two features we could add to our software, both equally valuable in proportion to their difficulty, we'd always take the harder one. Not just because it was more valuable, but because it was harder. We delighted in forcing bigger, slower competitors to follow us over difficult ground. Like guerillas, startups prefer the difficult terrain of the mountains, where the troops of the central government can't follow. I can remember times when we were just exhausted after wrestling all day with some horrible technical problem. And I'd be delighted, because something that was hard for us would be impossible for our competitors.

Here, as so often, the best defense is a good offense. If you can develop technology that's simply too hard for competitors to duplicate, you don't need to rely on other defenses. Start by picking a hard problem, and then at every decision point, take the harder choice.

This is a good plan for life in general. If you have two choices, choose the harder. If you're trying to decide whether to go out running or sit home and watch TV, go running. Probably the reason this trick works so well is that when you have two choices and one is harder, the only reason you're even considering the other is laziness. You know in the back of your mind what's the right thing to do, and this trick merely forces you to acknowledge it.

Full piece at http://paulgraham.com/wealth.html

What Will Revitalize Education in India

2010-11-09T16:36:00.006+05:30

None would disagree that education is the key to progress, be it for an individual and for a nation. Obama's speeches and Tom Friedman's columns harp on this all the time. Many youngsters (i know one personally) are quitting lucrative corporate careers to pitch in and revitalise the state of education in India. There are many NGOs active - Azim Premji's foundation, Pratham, Teach for India etc.

The hardened political establishment doesn't inspire much on how the education sector can be reformed. I tend to believe that charity and mere volunteering will not change things. The corrupt will continue to divert funds menat for education, unless there is reform in the system and people start demanding for more. Fortunately there are some trends that could engender a tipping point.

There are 650 million mobile phones in India now, a huge number. The price of handsets is steadily dropping and now there are now mass-smartphones in the $100 price range, powered by Android. This with the upcoming 3G network launches by many telecom companies will usher in the era of rich content on a simple mobile device.

The applications and implications of this could be far reaching; classrooms in remote areas could easily stream in lectures and experiments by the best teachers around the world. This without installing costly computers that are also come with maintenance costs. Imagine the experience with a cheaper iPad like Indian device! The form factor and the content could easily beat the One Laptop Per Child device which was started with an aim to help education in poor countries. The net impact will be people demanding quality education right on their mobile phone.

Keeping technology aside, if the education establishment were reformed even a wee bit, then the potential impact on the nation will be humongous. If the reform moves towards enabling parents decide the quality of education services that their kids get, then the impact will be dramatic. This could be done by giving the parents vouchers that they then choose to 'spend' on schools and teachers of their choice. The revolutionary impact of Public Delivery System reform in Chattisgarh, where the onus of the delivery was entrusted to the local bodies shows the way. If one can get better and assured delivery of rice and wheat from the government, why not better education?

Run and get cheered via Nike+ and Facebook

2010-10-09T19:21:00.001+05:30

Now Facebook has gotten into the simple act of running.. Nike+ has launched its GPS app for the iPhone that allows you to receive cheers as you run! Check it out!

Rupin Pass Trek

2010-09-30T23:10:00.010+05:30

10 Sep 2010 [Delhi - Kalka]

On the night of that Friday, the group of five trekkers headed for Shimla (enroute to Rupin Pass) converged at the Old Delhi railway station. The mood was eager, but was soon dampened learning that the flooding Yamuna led to the closure of a bridge. India was reeling under unprecedented rains and there were floods in many parts of the subcontinent. Would our train at Delhi get cancelled? Fortunately the Kalka Mail got rerouted to New Delhi railway station (NDLS) and did not get canceled.

It was a race against time for us to reach NDLS, to catch the train. It was chaos at NDLS, as there was no proper departures-announcement board and the enquiry queue was miles long. A guard there advised us to climb the foot over bridge and wait for the announcement. It sounded like a good idea and we trooped over there; the announcement came and we moved to the train that luckily turned up. This was the first of many just-in-time manoeuvres that helped us complete the trek and get back home in time. The air conditioning in the train was a welcome relief given the sultry and humid weather in Delhi. At Kalka, we connected to the Shivalik Deluxe Toy Train (which we learnt, always waits for the feeder trains from Delhi). The famous heritage train and the scenic route lived up to the world class reputation they carry.

11 Sep 2010 [Kalka - Shimla]

Upon reaching Shimla the next morning, we checked into the hotel that Vikranth and Mothay had already identified for us (they reached a day before). A nice siesta helped refresh and a few remaining trek items were bought on the famous Mall Road. I’d expected it to be a large city-square like in some European cities, but the Mall Road turned out to be somewhat narrow. Nevertheless it was the place where the local youth hung around and there was enough hustle and bustle all around. Almost all the well-known brands were represented on Mall Road. Certain points on the road offered panoramic views of Shimla. The countless lights on the hill side looked charming.

12 Sep 2010 [Shimla - Thiyog - Rohru ]

The much awaited journey started on Sunday morning when the sixteen trekkers left for Gosangu (the trek's start point) in three Sumos. There was the expected delay in the start, by about an hour. We reached Dhalli on the outskirts of Shimla where the trek organizer Arjun Majumder of India Hikes (IH) joined the group. Breakfast stop was at Thiyog for some aloo paranthas.

The wide tarmac roads soon became muddy; later the mud was like thick brown grease on the roads and then the roads further narrowed down as we criss crossed little known villages. As the road trip progressed, the Sumos would get stuck in the mud at some places, struggling to get out. Those who feared motion sickness did not have to worry as the vehicles were moving very slowly navigating the rain and mud.

The surrounding hills were pretty with the thick white clouds hovering over them; the motionless clouds looked like cuddly sheep settling down into their pens. By night fall, we somehow managed to reach a small town called Rohru. We had covered only 130 km in 9 hours, taking a longer route since the main route was apparently closed. In the interest of safety it was decided to stay the night at Rohru and hotels were hunted.

At the River View hotel, hot dinner was served and a briefing was held by Arjun. We hadn’t yet reached Gosangu and it might take another day; result: the trek would get reduced by one day. The perils of Altitude Mountain Sickness (AMS) were discussed and we were told to continue to take the medicine Diamox. Diamox thins the blood, allowing it carry more oxygen and hence helps acclimitasation; it has some side effects - you pee more but also get a good sleep at high altitude.

13 Sep 2010 [Rohru - Larot - Chanshil - Dodra]

The morning of Tuesday we left for Gosangu again by 8 am. The route followed the surging Rupin River initially. Early on, the lead vehicle took a wrong turn and it took almost two hours to retrace the way back. One wondered if a simple GPS device would have helped; any trek organizer ought to have one.

We stopped for breakfast-cum-lunch (brunch) by around 11 am at a village called Larot (MSL – 2550m). The shack owner took almost an hour to prepare the meal; the rajma-chaval (kidney bean and rice) turned out to be very delicious (hunger does wonders!). The area also had many apple orchards and some of us took the liberty of helping ourselves with fresh juicy apples, straight off the tree. Meanwhile the drivers (instigated by our vehicle’s driver) confabulated and started making loud noises about the bad road, the extra day, and various other issues, without directly asking for more money. The stage was being set for a ransom.

We pushed on post lunch and enjoyed scenic views of the Chanshil valley. We could see meadows, pine and deodar forests and as we climbed Chanshil the tree line was also visible. The Chanshil pass offered panoramic views of the entire valley; it was beautiful with the wispy white clouds floating up slowly. The strong wind made it really chilly and we did not stop for long there. The Himachal Tourism board plans to build a small facility here.

As soon as we resumed, the driver made a dramatic stop, threw his hands up and made signs of 'giving up'. He relented only after he was assured of some more money. We slowly reached Dodra village (MSL - 2310m) by 3:30 pm. That would be our night halt; Gosangu was another 90 minutes from there but the rains had messed up all the lodging arrangements. Here our trek lead Sandeep from IH joined us; Arjun went back with the Sumos.

The trekkers slowly spread into the village to enjoy the rustic sights. Many village houses tied up grass into large mats and dried them out; they would serve as fodder for their livestock during the harsh winters. The village had a few temples, the biggest one for the local Jakha Devata (Vishnu form), one for Lord Siva and another for the Goddess Shakti. The villagers had a custom of decorating their temples with the trophies the children win in tournaments. An older custom was to also add the busts of animals (mostly sheep and goat). The Jakha temple’s door also had numerous coins nailed to it; some of them were real antiques. We took a lot of photographs of the village life and the children in particular. Of particular interest was a mute child who was also very active.

One of the very talkative trekkers, was very anxious to start a campfire even before the trek started and the others had to oblige. The villagers turned out to be experts at tending fire but they joined very late. One of them, Tiwari narrated how he trekked to Rupin from Dodra in just two days! Soon dinner was served (Dal, Rice, Roti, Cabbage curry). The trekkers retired into one large dormitory and two rooms. Three of us got into a log cabin about 200m away.

14 Sep 2010 [Dodra - Gosangu - Kwar - Bavuta]

Dodra is a small village and like many of its kind in India, does not have enough toilets. The first thing to tackle in the cold morning (and it was raining, of course) was to take care of the, ahem, morning business. So off we went with tissue paper roll and bottle of water in hand, not to forget the umbrella/raincoat. Our host in the log cabin graciously offered use of the adjacent balcony but we felt a bit embarassed; it would be inappropriate and so we ventured out in the rain.

Breakfast took a long time to cook. Some of us (the six who rode in the same Sumo) joined in the kitchen to help and peel the potatoes. The kitchen being a warm place was also ideal to escape into. We later learnt that the plan was to have Maggi noodles and quickly leave; this was changed as someone wanted to have delicious puris instead. Soon breakfast was ready but the puris turned out to be thick and the curry had no seasoning. This led some to complain, but most were looking to get out and get to the elusive Gosangu.

So for the third day, we got into a vehicle heading for Gosangu. Luckily the drive lasted only about 90 minutes (it would have been a 30 minute walk for a local cutting across the hills). The views to our right, showed the rich tapestry of the Kwar hill side that appeared like a quilt stitched with numerous patches; each patch being a field, tree cluster or a meadow. To our left, there was another hill with steep slopes and not much foliage; there was however a thick layer of grass on the entire hill, and with its elaborate folds it looked like someone draped a giant green cloth on the entire hill.

Finally, Destination Gosangu was reached! It was huge relief as the endless journey ended! It was decided to start the trek to the first camp at Jhaka (via Kwar and Bavuta) past the bridge; a few who wished to could ride till Kwar in the jeep and join the rest there. It felt good to get on to the trail. The legs felt alive after the prolonged ride. Soon we came upon a massive land slide that dwarfed the entire mountain side and painted it a thick shade of brown. We had no choice but to clamber down and up the brown mudscape. After we saw a middle aged villager woman and her child dance their way across a faint trail, we picked up courage and got going.

We reached Kwar village after in less than two hours. At the village bore well, we took a long break; two of us even tried taking a small nap. The village children milled around for chocolates that were being distributed. We then saw another group of American trekkers who were returning from Rupin. Apparently they could not cross the waterfall and had to turn back. With the bad weather, it was possible that we experience a similar fate. But if we were lucky we could cross the river at the waterfall and go on to Rupin pass.

At Kwar our second trek guide Gajju joined us. After a longish break, we resumed our trek (the larger a group, the longer the break!). These long breaks when added can easily impact the trek schedule. A second smaller landslide was navigated with ease. We also came upon a nice waterfall and cute old wooden bridge on the way. After a steep climb, we reached Bavuta gaining almost 1000 ft over Kwar.

To our dismay we found that the innkeeper did not have the lunch ready (he claimed he was waiting for a phone call that never came). The bad weather was messing up the initial trek logistics and the domino effect continued; it would take some more time and patience to align things. It took a very long time to cook the lunch and we used the time to rest at a beautiful house that overlooked the valley.

What got served finally, was a simple fare of rice and plain kadi, but we were so hungry that we gobbled up whatever was served. At 5pm, I was not sure if it was a late lunch, supper or an early dinner. The wildly fluctuating meal timings were leading to binge eating and in turn, to acidity or indigestion. (*Lesson: always carry some fruits or chocolates to compensate for missed meals, if you wish to avoid gastric trouble*). Dinner at 8pm was a better fare, roti made of the Jawar and the local ram dana (long purple corn grown the fields and giving the hills that quilt like look). A dessert dish (Kheer) was also served.

It was now obvious that we had to stay the night at Bavuta and reach Jhaka only the next day. We were already behind by two days and not reaching Jhaka meant a further slippage! But the shocking news of that night was that ten of the sixteen trekkers decided to opt out. The reasons cited were many - bad weather, speculation on waterfall/river crossing, headache etc. A few were frank to admit lack of preparation, not taking Diamox and fitness. The constant rain and gloomy weather did not help a bit.

This was indeed a big jolt to the team, but six of us decided to continue. Going back was not an option. It was a coincidence that we were the same group of six that travelled together in the Sumo from Shimla, and all of us came from Hyderabad! We stayed the night in the same beautiful wooden rest house. We had had a word with the house owner Balakram and he was happy to let us stay. The innkeeper was also keen but his place was already overcrowded.

The six of us conferred with Sandeep, to redraw the plans and on how to make up on lost time. It was decided to trek the next day, all the way to Saruvas Thatch, which meant we would double-camp i.e., cover two days plan in just one. After dinner, the clouds had cleared and we could see the moonless sky brightly lit with countless stars. It was so clear that we could see many constellations and even the faint white band that is the Milky Way - our home galaxy! This sight was a highlight of the trip.

15 Sep 2010 [Bavuta - Jhaka - Saruvas Thatch]

A pleasant surprise awaited us after we woke up the next day. The house where we stayed actually had a toilet outside. This made things very simple and there was no need for the kind of loo expedition we did the previous morning. It is said that the presence of a toilet is a sign of development in rural India; we saw the lack of it in Dodra village the previous day.

As luck would have it, there was no breakfast served as the innkeeper claimed some vague reason. The recourse was to eat chocolates or cereal bars and get going. We said our goodbyes to our friends who were heading the other way. They encouraged us, wished us luck and gave us their stock of Diamox tablets and a few chocolates.

We started relatively early, by 8:15am. By now the sky looked less gray as the clouds had somewhat cleared after a spell of rain at 7am. We trekked towards Jhaka on a scenic route. After about 45 minutes, the sun emerged out of the clouds lighting up the entire valley. We were already warmed up and sweating by then and it was time to discard a few layers. What the heck, it was time to strip down and soak in the sun and drink some Vitamin D! The true meaning of ‘sunbathing’ was realized only then!

We came across corner in the trail was overhung with huge cliffs on all sides. The place looked similar to the kind of cliffs one gets to see in the forests around Tirumala Hills. The cliffs were dripping with water; every layer in every rock was just oozing water, enough to fill a water bottle within seconds. The water, moisture and relative closed atmosphere resulted in thick undergrowth, much like a rain forest.

There was also a very cute old wooden bridge that we used to cross the Rupin river. The river flowed by the side and its pure aqua green water was a neat sight. We were told that the water was very muddy just a month ago. Why was the water clean? Did the rains stop upstream? Or is there no more mud to be washed away? What does this mean for the river crossing? With these thoughts we kept climbing.

After gaining 2100ft (1hr 45min later), we reached Jhaka (Day1 camp, per the original plan). Consistent with the meal plan (or lack of it), the brunch was delayed at Jhaka too. But Newar Singh, our host had apple trees in his garden, and we asked for some. They were peeled, cut and served keeping hunger pangs at bay. We made use of the sunshine by washing socks and drying our clothes in the huge sundeck/balcony of our host. In line with the apparent prosperity, the host’s house also had a toilet.

Lunch was excellent, aloo paranthas served with raw onions, large bowls of curd/yoghurt and cheese spread. It would energise us till we reached our camp at Saruvas Thatch that evening. With the drop outs, we now had more trek enablers (10 porters - who all joined us here, 2 trek guides, 1 trek lead) than trekkers. We also got our coveted 'High Altitude Trekker' caps here from Sandeep. With reduced supplies and rations, the porters had more space and we happily agreed to pass on some of our heavy luggage pieces enclosed in plastic.

At noon, we left Jhaka which was the last main village on the route to Rupin. As we took the steep steps up and away from Newar Singh’s house, the trail changed and the path roughened out with fewer stones and markings. There was an old woman seen carrying a huge load of freshly cut grass on her back. Her name was Neelam Devi and she looked resplendent with a large red bindi adorning her heavily wrinkled forehead. She could have been easily 70 years old but with the mountain folks, it is tough to tell as wrinkles are part of their genetic makeup; even children have them.

The path climbed up and up, roughened out more, and soon it became pretty lonely. With the porters out of sight, it was tough to tell if the route was indeed correct. The path then wound down to the river and to a small bridge on the left across a tributary stream. The bridge was made of poles with large stones placed for footsteps. This was another scenic spot with the gushing river; the bend in the river offered views of two mountains.

Soon it started raining again and the rain coats were out. The rain was incessant and trekking with the raincoats on was uncomfortable as the sweat accumulated inside. The path roughened out more and soon there were only rocks; the rocks became the path. After a while we had to enter the river to move forward - we waded through the water and then walked across the exposed pebbles and rocks. Now the river became the path!

After a final climb we reached the meadows by about 5:30pm. In local Pahari dialect, the word for meadow is ‘Thatch’. This was Saruvas Thatch, our camp for the night. By the time we reached, the porters had already pitched the tents on the banks of the river. Where there is a meadow, expect to see sheep and possibly cows grazing. Immediately we saw a commotion on the opposite bank of the river. Hundreds of sheep started clambering down and bleating like crazy, expecting to be thrown lumps of salt. Normally the shepherds feed them salt once a week, but who doesn’t want a free snack?

These sheep are usually left free to graze and are herded at night, or home in to the smoke from the shepherd’s campfire at night. The odd one escapes to the wild, but has to face predators that include bear, wolf and panther. The sheep graze here from summer through October. To escape the harsh winter, they start moving to a lower altitude towards Dehradun, the journey taking 30 to 45 days. September – November is also the season when they breed; we could see several young lambs. A herd of 600-700 sheep would have at least 100 lambs. The seemingly vulnerable lambs are born with enough wool on them to help them survive the winter.

The camp site was set in an idyllic location. There were steep cliffs on either side of the river giving the valley a bowl shape and protecting us somewhat from strong winds. The snowy mountain tops were visible now and then gone, as the clouds were busy acting as curtains, offering a peek here and there, of the majestic peaks.

It was a satisfying day’s work as we were well underway on the trek. We had easily put in eight hours of solid trekking, braved rain and overcame steep climbs. It was still raining and would rain deep into the dark night (till about 2 am) but we were ready for anything now. Siva had overcome a cramp in his calf muscle and set an example of perseverance.

It was getting very cold and it took a while to get the warm clothes back from with the porter. We rushed into the tents to get warm and take some much needed rest. As we settled into our tents, the porters got to work preparing dinner for the group. Hot tea was served immediately and by 7pm hot vegetable soup was also served; we eagerly lapped it up, profusely thanking our ‘waiters’. Dinner came around 8pm – dal chaval with tiny slices of onion and cucumber which was eaten ravenously.

16 sep 2010 [Saruvas Thatch - River Crossing - Upper Waterfall]

By 2am the sky had cleared completely and there was not a trace of cloud. We woke up at around 6am to a hot chai (bed tea) and clear skies. The golden glow of the sun was reflected off the mountains on the south side; to the north the snow peaks were clearly visible. The weather pattern in the high mountains during for this season was slowly unraveling: okay weather between early morning and early afternoon; later gathering clouds and resulting precipitation as rain/sleet/snow. I was told mountaineers who scale the highest peaks always understand and respect this pattern.

The morning loo expeditions became shorter with the open meadows (no villagers nearby) and faster (due to the cold weather). The cooks had already started their work in the kitchen and we were given crisp paranthas and rotis (with cheese) for breakfast. A fire was also set up in the open and some of us tried to dry socks there. Drying socks is a temporary relief; either rain or the next stream that you cross soon makes them wet. (recommended to carry several dry pairs of socks).

The crossing of the waterfall was once again the topic of discussion over breakfast. The local shepherd said “No big deal, can be done”. Sandeep, our trek lead said with no expression and as a matter of fact, “We have to cross”. He also meant “With safety”, but that was apparent from his serious demeanour. “Once we cross, then Rupin, Rontigad and Sangla (rest of the trek) will be ok”.

To make matters worse, we later ran into another shepherd who said that deep water will NOT make the crossing possible. They also gave an alternative – to climb real steep via a circuitous route and cross the river at a shallow point – taking an additional two hours. We kept our fingers crossed, not knowing how the river will behave (given the heavy rains), and knowing that one party had returned and some of our friends had opted out.

We planned to head out by 8am but the actual start was at 9:15am. We walked along the gurgling Rupin river and then inside it (bit like the previous evening). We stopped at a bend in the river to drink some water and enjoy the view. There were some mountain cows nearby and one new born calf was particularly cute and playful.

Soon we came across a massive structure across the river that looked like a giant mattress from a distance. Then it looked like a broken bridge, a practical structure, but the place was too remote for anyone to build a bridge. As we came closer it became clear that it was a large piece of ice sheet, which once evidently occupied a much larger volume in the valley. Was it the remnants of an ancient glacier that has melted (thanks to climate change)? Raju our guide explained that it was the ice sheet formed from last year’s snowfall that has now melted; the recent heavy rains further shrunk and disfigured it.

The first big climb of the day was to the ‘Lower Water Fall’, a tall but thin cascade of water to the right side of the main river. Further up the main river itself was a water fall; the upper part was simply called the ‘Upper Water Fall’. Our target was to cross the river below the Upper Fall and then trek up to the upper part to camp there.

The climb to the Lower Fall was interesting as there was no clear path, only boulders big and small strewn across in a very steep incline. An experienced person could make out a path across the boulders and areas where the grass looks a little more beaten down; we had to either wisely follow a porter closely or just make wild guesses and clamber up.

The cold early in the morning, somehow fooled us into not drinking water till the first climb invoked the thirst pangs. By then the exertion and sweating caused significant dehydration. To make matters tougher, the rain started beating down hard on us.

Eventually we crossed the Lower Fall and after a short distance (about 200m), to the left there was a massive rock outcrop offering shelter from the rain. We made use of the shelter to remove the raincoat, shed a layer or two and then put the rain coat back. Sandeep advised that the body is cold when the trek starts but with time it gets warmed up making it necessary to manage the layers. Similarly at a break, it is important to conserve body heat and put on something warm, especially if it is a longish break. Dress to the weather, period.

The next stop was the all important river crossing. It was another steep climb from the place we stopped at near the Lower Falls. Once we got to the river, the porters and trek guides started scanning the stream up and down to figure out the vantage points. Bishu, one of the fastest porters climbed up high and was raring to go across and had to be restrained.

Meanwhile a fast and flexible lad named Jagat chose a couple of rocks downstream, leapt across the river and delicately balanced himself on a small rock. It would have easily earned him a gold medal at the Common Wealth Games, had he participated. Instantly Jagat was our hero!

A rope was thrown across to Jagat and it was then tied to two large boulders in the mountaineering style. The boulders were afar but were carefully chosen keeping in mind the take-off and landing spots on either side of the river. Sandeep has an advanced course in mountaineering under his belt, and he was the first to cross the river using the rope (and test it as well!). The harness and the props were all made using only ropes, no metal or plastic was used anywhere.

One by one the six trekkers were hauled across and then the porters and equipment followed suit. I would have preferred an active movement, rather than the passive hauling, but we had to save time. During the 1.5 – 2 hours this entire exercise took, we bit into our packed lunch of Roti and Aloo curry. It was not possible to cross the river by wading across; Jagat had indeed saved the day for us.

A few minutes of sun ensued but soon it started raining a hailstorm and we rushed forward. Another steep climb followed and by 3:45pm we had reached the Upper Water Fall camp site (MSL: about 4100m; how I missed carrying the Garmin device). We were welcomed to glorious blue sky and sunshine which again lasted only a short while. The view was stunning with the valley under a mixture of white clouds and blue sky extending to the south.

As we settled into our tents, we were satisfied at another day’s hard work yielding excellent results. We had done another double camp (back-to-back) and recovered the two days lost due to delayed start. The crossing was clean and done; we proved the naysayers wrong!

We could not celebrate with a camp fire as there was no fire wood at all; we were well above the tree line at 11000 ft. Dinner came at 7:45pm; on time! Things were slowly looking up and what more, we had very tasty khichdi served along with a papad. The finishing touch was dry halwa, a simple sweet dish.

It was raining and the rain slowly changed to sleet and later snow as the night progressed. Through the night we had a couple of ferocious Himalayan dogs for company; they belonged to the nearby solitary shepherd. In fact the evening, as I ambled into the campsite, I was warned by the trek guides to stay away from the big black dog with drooping hair.

17 sep 2010 [Upper Waterfall - Rupin Pass - Rontigad]

In the morning, we woke up to see a white carpet outside the tents. It had sleeted and snowed resulting in an accumulation of 3 inches. The loo expedition this morning had a twist, with the big dog alternating between aggressively rushing forward and retreating to loud shouts. it was finally held at 50ft distance under the torch’s spotlight, while the business was accomplished.

Given the task for the day ahead, we had a power breakfast – corn flakes with milk and tangy dhaliya consisting of capsicum, green mirchi. Keen not to repeat the previous day’s mistake, a lot of water was ingested. After getting ready to move, we moved into the kitchen tent to keep warm. An important advice was given about not to shave in the cold conditions (result being a badly bruised face).

The sleet continued even as we moved out of the tents by 9:45am, a relatively late start for the day. By now the custom of the six trekkers leaving first with a lead porter or a trek guide was in place. The porters and the trek guides would then finish packing the tent, supplies and equipment, cross us at some point and go on the reach the camp site much ahead of us giving them time to setup camp for the night. This morning, Raju the lead guide accompanied us – he mustered us, ranked us in some order and asked us to march single file.

The climb way from the campsite was steep (as usual) and with wet socks in wet shoes, something we had gotten used to by now with the weather being what it was. We started the trek in slush (mix of snow, mud and water) but as we climbed the snow accumulation increased, till we were stomping across half a foot of snow. The terrain looked pristine, and the entire ground was picturesque white.

The trail soon turned left and there was no more ground left to climb up. We were upon a trail made of only rocks, similar to what we had faced the previous day before the Lower Falls climb. But now the rocks were all covered in snow, making it very difficult to land the foot at the right spot. Since the rocks had a lot of gaps between them, one wrong step and the leg would get stuck forcing a fall. This made one use the hands more often, and move almost sideways making this phase of the trek a rock climbing sequence. The mountaineering stick we were given by IH came handy during the climb, but now it was not of much use.

After negotiating this phase, we came upon terrain that was less rocky. The snow cover was about half a foot, and we took some respite after the intense climbing. Sandeep scooped out some snow, made a snow ball out of it and used it as a makeshift water bottle biting into it occasionally. He advised us not to eat the snow directly, but let the snow melt in the mouth first.

After about half an hour, we came upon an open area with a large lake on the left. Straight up, on the horizon we could see the faint U formed by the scraggy mountain. The bottom of the U (it was actually very high up) was our destination – the mountain pass named Rupin.

Rupin Pass looked distant; our immediate attentions were occupied more with the lake. We marveled at its half frozen beauty and the serene atmosphere around it. Since our water balls were almost empty, we made some snow balls and bit into them. We took a break and feasted on the snow balls garnished with ORS!

As we moved forward, we came upon a small stream that emerged out the lake on the left. Even at this altitude, there was a small fish seen in the stream, swimming around aimlessly. We moved further ahead and while we were trying to keep our backs erect, It was interesting to note tiny plants proudly place their little stalks and flowers above the white snowy carpet. They managed to somehow stay dry and erect, until the snow practically engulfed them.

After trekking in the deep snow for another half an hour, we the reached the start of what would be a daunting climb. By far this seemed the steepest climb of the trek, almost vertical in its slope. What more it was full of rocks. The difference from the rock climbing sequence navigated earlier in the morning was the slope, all 75 degrees of it! Now vertical climbing on rocks is okay, trekking in snow is okay; but what if these two are thrown at you together at once! Only thing working for us was that the hailstorm or frozen rain somewhat subsided for a little while.

One good thing about thick snow is that it makes the path clear, allowing a trekker to follow in the footsteps of someone who went ahead. On a vertical climb, it almost ends up creating a stair case of snowy footprints. The other good thing about thick snow is that it provides some cushions after one of those inevitable falls. One can also dig into the snow with the ten fingers of two hands which is useful if the leg cannot find a firm foothold. The snow surprisingly holds well and helps in climbing up; imagine the hands in the snow like the claws of a woodpecker stuck into the bark of a tree!

There was no option to turn back, the only option was to move ahead. So with a Zen like approach, we moved ahead focusing only on the next step ahead and nothing else. One step after the other and one step at a time, only the next step mattered. The climb was the toughest of the trek, exhausting and backbreaking. Though the temperature was below zero Celsius (there was a hailstorm hitting us in the eyes), our bodies were so heated up with the climbing that we did not feel the cold. In fact we were profusely sweating under the rain coats, which also caused some dehydration.

To make matters worse, even a small twitch in the forehead would lead to several doubts: was that headache, am I getting AMS? All needless thoughts brought in by exhaustion. One way to beat them back was to drink more water and take deep breaths. The best thing to do was to keep the head down and just focus on the next step; looking up and trying to gauge the distance to the top would only de-motivate and prolong the agony.

And then after an interminably long climb, all of a sudden Rupin Pass was reached. The time was 1:45pm. At 15,500ft we felt like we were on the top of the world; at least on top of the Rupin and Sangla valleys both of which were visible on either sides of the Pass. The Rupin valley offered wonderful views as the weather on that side seemed to clear up for a short while. Sangla valley hid its beauty under the hail and clouds. Our guides and a few porters had already reached and some of them went down again to help a few of the trekkers. Their dedication and courtesy cannot be thanked enough.

At the Rupin Pass, was a small wooden shrine dedicated to the Mountain God and the team offered their thanks for allowing us to get there in one piece. We were fortunate to be there and silently conveyed our deepest gratitude for the same. Raju performed a small Pooja, and prashad (dry coconut) was distributed quickly. The team had to move on quickly as it was extremely cold out there making the body lose heat rapidly. I could feel the fingers in my feet freeze as I watched the proceedings. After the mandatory photo shoots, we left Rupin Pass by 2:15pm.

The next phase of the trek was a continuous descent. Our destination was the first meadow on this side of the mountain range, a place called Ronti-gad. ‘Gad’ in this side of the mountains meant meadow (it was ‘Thatch’ on the other side). We passed another frozen lake on this side and enjoyed close up views of the stark mountain range as we climbed down. The mountains with their millions of rocks, and edges that were covered with snow reflected the light in a way that made them glisten like jewels. As we climbed down, we could see the black&white view of the glistening mountains merge with the sepia shade of the mountainside’s exposed rocks and grass.

After navigating snow, we soon came upon a mix of snow and slush that made the descent unpleasant. The slush then gave way to grass and rock giving our feet a firmer footing. The advantage of moving down quickly was that the temperature improved and so did the blood circulation in the body. In another hour or so, we saw the first bird on this side of the Pass.

As we approached Rontigad (MSL: 4100m), a lot of sheep were grazing in the hill side and the meadows. The shepherd was a middle aged man named Rajesh. He enquired, “Did you see any wolves?”. Negative was the reply; given our group size, even if the wolves had been around, they would have easily hidden somewhere. Rajesh had no dogs guarding his herd; apparently they had all gone down into the village to make their presence during the mating season.

From this point in the mountain, our camp site could be seen way below in the meadow. It was a sight we were not used to, since we were always trekking up to our camp sites! The tents below looked cute, much like Lego blocks. The camp site was once again set up (altitude of 130m below Rontigad) in a beautiful location, overseeing the deep valley with the river gushing below. As expected, the tents were setup by the time we reached the place. We enjoyed a nice view of the mountains from the tents.

As the night set in, the skies cleared for another brief interval. A half moon emerged and the snow peaks could be seen in the faint moonlight. It was a serene atmosphere. We had achieved two major milestones – one was crossing the river on the previous day and then today’s climax of crossing the Rupin Pass. We felt relieved. The porters actually broke into a dance and wore big smiles that stretched from one ear to the other. They also had good fun pursuing some stray mountain cows that relentlessly came back smelling salt on one of the stones that held the kitchen tent.

The food service now was a vast improvement over what we experienced in the first two days. Tea (and black tea) was served upon arrival. Soon after we retired into the tents, pop corn and soup followed. Dinner was then served – roti, onion curry, rice, dal and gulab jamoon. We felt really pampered with this kind of food served on a night when it was still raining, at an altitude of 4000m. The only thing missing was a camp fire. But it was raining and since we were still above the tree line, there was no firewood either.

18 sep 2010 [Rontigad - Upper Sangla - Sangla]

Once again it snowed through the night and by the morning, there was a couple of inches of snow around the tents. The night temperature went below freezing. There was also a big thunderstorm (with hail) in the night that twisted our tents out of shape. Early in the morning even before the sun rise, we could hear loud claps of thunder and blinding flashes of lightening that pierced through our tents.

There was enough accumulation of ice on the tent surface to flatten the tops and push the sides inward. Some of us in the sleep could feel the tent side touching us and even thought it could be an animal trying to cozy up to the tent (the exhaustion was such that none woke up).

We once again woke up to bed tea in the morning. The plan was to make an early start after a functional breakfast made of Maggi noodles. We left the camp site at 8:15am, as usual with rain coats trying to protect us from rain and sleet. I discovered that with continuous precipitation over several days, even the rain coats give up, and water somehow finds its way inside.

We traversed slushy mud and made a tricky climb down. There was some excitement after an hour, as we found the tree line again. The two hour descent was uneventful and soon we were at our first village – Sangla Kandla (or Upper Sangla). We came across an old lady who enquired about us and asked for tea. Now that was something not to be refused. She led us around her home and into a very narrow courtyard and made us sit practically in her cow shed. The tea took a long time to cook (like anything else in the mountains) and our trek guides and trek lead caught up with us there. It was a funny sight, nine of us in the rain, sipping half cooked tea in a crowded cow shed.

The descent to Sangla resumed at 11am. After a couple of hours of walking through deodar forests, we reached the bottom of the valley and came upon a large bridge that was adorned with Tibetan Buddhist flags. The perennially muddy Baspa river flowed under the bridge; the incessant rains must have deepened the shade of its brown waters. School kids milled around us, some asked us for chocolates (one even pointed to the wrapper in my raincoat pocket which was empty); we politely said no. Besides all our food supplies were exhausted by then.

Sangla town belongs to the Kinnaur district and is very beautiful with looks straight out of a picture post card. It is dominated by high mountain peaks with the mountain ranges circling it almost on all sides. The tallest peak is Kinnaur Kailash at 6050m said to be the winter home of Lord Shiva; perhaps it would make a great climb some other day.

We reached the guest house by 2pm; the arrangements were modest. We were looking to get out soon and did not wish anything fancy either. We had late lunch by around 5pm and IH distributed our trek completion certificates. After a futile search for the right Kinnauri cap and shawl, we came back to the guest room waiting for the vehicle that would take us back to Shimla. We were told that there was a massive landslide 5kms out of Sangla. It was not predictable when the road would be open again.

After a long wait, just by happen stance, we stepped out of the room around 8pm and enquired with some drivers to learn that the road was now open. Our care taker was trying to hide the information as he was keen on us extending the stay through the night (more income for him!) but we were fortunate to get out. Any further delay would have had a domino effect on the sequential bus/train and flight bookings.

After some haggling for the vehicle, we managed to catch a Sumo jeep at 10:30pm. The midnight dinner at Babaji’s Dhaba in Tapuri was a highlight. After a bumpy ride through the entire night, we were lucky to reach Shimla by 9am. The same luck that saw us through an overflowing Yamuna at Delhi, bad roads through Rohru-Dodra, crucial decisions at Bavuta, river crossing at Upper Falls and finally landslides near Sangla got us back on time.

A Trip Down Nostalgia Lane

2010-05-22T18:01:00.006+05:30

Last weekend our family made a trip to Mysore; in fact we made it an extended weekend to give ourselves more time to meet the people and places that we frequented often during our two year stay at Mysore between 2001 and 2002.

Mysore is a place that I was drawn to, when I was a student in Bangalore in the late 1990s. The same charm that the place exuded on the noted novelist RK Narayan worked on me too! Several trips and treks to areas around Mysore later, I decided to move there when my organization started a new centre. A couple of years later my nomadic job took me to several other places abroad. When I decided to return back, I came back to my home state for various reasons.

So, last week we went to the famous palace a couple of times, the hotels on Harsha street, Kalidasa Road, the temples in Vontikoppal, the zoo, the lakes (Karanaji, Kukkarahalli) etc. The city has also changed a bit in the last eight years. Nothing ever remains the same! For one there is more traffic and many more traffic stoplights than before. So in many ways our trip was a nice refresh of the good old memories.

Memories are like soft wispy clouds and wandering in them makes one feel good. Human memory is usually selective: it easily forgets the bad things of the past and retains the sweet ones. And then there are layers upon layers of such memories. Having grown up in many cities and visited several places I seem to carry a pretty large stock of these creamy layers!

Jiddu Krishnamurthy used to say that memory creates attachments; being wedded to the memory of the past is to lose the ability to observe and experience the present. That is surely true, as long as one is aware of the line between wallowing in old memories, to relishing them once in a while! Nostalgia with awareness would acceptable to even JK.

Revenue vs Profit = Vanity vs Sanity

2010-03-24T13:53:00.002+05:30

Someone somewhere said, "Revenue is vanity, Profit is sanity". So true for any company, small or big. I am a keen follower of this conversation at various places.

Hence it is very interesting to see that Apple the maker of cool tech products, has a whopping 35% of the profits made in the PC industry, while it takes only 7% of the share of revenues! Now Apple is also seen as a company that appeals to people's sense of vanity!

Twenty things in Twenty-o-nine

2010-01-19T22:52:00.007+05:30

A New Year is a great occasion to take stock. 2010 marks the beginning of not just a new year, but also a new decade! Wanted to spend a moment to recap the 20 things that worked for me in 2009 and then may be dream 10 things that I aspire to do in the year 2010:

Vipassana: The year started with a great introduction to meditation and a closer introspection at what spirituality means. Was able to do a ten day Vipassana course that I wanted to for some time. The impact has been transformational to say the least. Only thing is I haven’t been able to practice the technique ‘religiously’.
'The' Himalayas: Since I was a kid, I always wanted to see the Great Himalayas. In September was able to realize the dream and got a peek at the mighty mountain ranges when we made a trek to the Valley of Flowers, Hemkund, Badrinath etc. Have been amazed by the sheer scale of the mountains, the beauty of the ranges and the tranquility there. Few other things I did for the first time were skinny dipping at 15000 ft near Hemkund Sahib, white water rafting in the Alaknanda river and actually jumping into the river midway, jumping off a cliff from 15 feet into the river! What an adventure!
Karate, Budokan style: The mind-body fusion and application that martial art calls for is kinda meditative. Signed up for a 3 month intro course - flexibility improved, endurance improved and overall I felt fit. Will pursue this further!
Running: The affair with running continued this year too. Ran my second Half Marathon with a better time than the first one. The next event on the calendar is the Auroville HM in February.
Cycling: This was a new one in 2009, and what an amazing ride it has been! The Freedom Ride held in August this year on India’s independence day was the longest, but there were many other short rides done with Hyderabad Bicycling Club and with Thunderbolts (cycling club at my workplace). Occasionally I take the cycle out for the office commute and some errands near home. It feels great and adds up to the environment cause.
Yearend Trek: This year the Christmas long weekend was spent in Pench Tiger Reserve. It is becoming an annual thingie, just like the September trips.
Technology Conclaves: After skipping them in 2008, I found myself attending the TiE ISB CoNNect and NASSCOM Product Conclave. It was nice to see and hear some great technology minds and get to know what’s buzzing in the Tech world. Singular insight: no value gained if you don’t have something to discuss about.
Coding: The last few years haven’t seen me do much of coding, something I loved as a teenager (though had no computer then!) and later in college. So when I re-discovered the joy of coding in Python, and a web application framework called Django, it was nirvana again. I hope to develop some useful application during my spare time on weekends.
Wii and gaming: As a kid I couldn't convince my parents about buying a home computer in 1989. Those days they had Sinclairs that used the television as a video output device. My parents fear was that I will end up playing video games, and I couldn't convey my passion for programming in BASIC. Later when I took up computers in a big way, I never got into gaming and avoided even stuff like pacman, tetris. This year, the success of Nintendo Wii drew me in, due to its active nature. Have enjoyed the device a lot, and plan to buy a few more titles.
Books – The reading habit has fragmented heavily with the Web/Twitter/Blogs etc, not counting the many magazines and newspapers. With more twitter usage, I found myself using less of Google Reader. If reading a book is like having a full meal, I have moved to eating bite sized snacks. Can’t recall much except 1-2 fiction books like Lashkar and Art of Living (on Vipassana), Go Kiss The World. Hope to read some good books this year.
Voting – I feel proud, having voted in the general elections in May and the Municipal (GHMC) elections in November. The least one can do to change the pathetic politics around is to vote. There is huge scope for improvement in enabling people to vote using technology and the internet. It is another matter that politics in the state sunk to its lowest in 2009.
Honey I shrunk the commute! – In May, I took a strategic decision to move closer to my work location. This freed up almost two hours per day. The impact on quality of life has been great, helping me fret less and do more!
Toddler to Child – My daughter Ritsika is now five years old, and not a toddler anymore! Each stage of a child’s growth is precious and a sheer miracle. At this stage, I look forward to more activities together.
Table Tennis – The only sport on which I did relatively well as a child was TT. An inter-corporate seniors tournament held in December, gave a chance to dust off the racket and get into the game. Learnt from Madhu Kishore, a State level player about some basics which helped me make a Podium finish and also win a community TT event.
Golf: My love-hate relationship with golf continues. There were months when I played the game regularly and times when I ignored the game. I love the elegance of the swing, the focus, and the walk in the greenery with like minded folks, but not the huge amount of time it demands. With more colleagues picking up the sport, the new year should see more golfing.
The Year of Twitter: Blogging has taken a back seat with Tweets taking over! But I am slowly veering to the view that both can co-exist. Writing a blog helps one think clearly and long enough. My Facebook usage has also increased this year as more and more college mates get on the bandwagon.
Carnatic music: Always loved the classic compositions by Annamayya and Tyagaraja. So was excited to be part of a hundred thousand people contingent that sang some select compositions of Annamayya. And guess what, this event was recognized as the largest such gathering ever, by the Guinness Book!
Hello Ubuntu: While I haven’t yet said good bye Windows, I have switched my home computer to Ubuntu (a Linux version) – use it for email, photos, videos, coding, music etc. I now miss nothing in Windows (except iTunes).
The year marked 11 years of my working career. One thing I learnt from Bagchi’s Kiss the World, one of the few books I finished during the year, was that there is nothing called retirement, leave alone early retirement. This put to rest some romantic notions I had about retiring by 50 etc. Had a fun time thinking about unsettling vs stability and what is the best time to have a reflection on mid-life musings!
Well, I have to keep at least one (or more) things to myself!

Happy New Year Once Again! Have a blast in Twenty-Ten!

Whither Brand Hyderabad?

2009-12-31T10:56:00.005+05:30

The ongoing political crisis in Andhra Pradesh has many wondering what will happen to Brand Hyderabad and all the glitter it has gathered over the last decade. There is concern that if AP is partitioned, then investments will move away. Unrest is already affecting the business mood and the fear is that in future, Maoist violence may increase and weaken the city, or that a partitioned state that still controls it will divert resources to other lesser developed parts.

Telangana has had genuine problems about resource allocation, an exploitative political leadership and self-respect. The jury is out on whether this warrants a partition of India's first state formed on linguistic basis - read this Hindu editorial for one view. As far as Brand Hyderabad goes, I believe the damage is not irreparable. Urbanization is a mega trend and location wise, Hyderabad taps a massive hinterland. The divisive Telugus may go and serve other metros Madras and Bangalore, like they always did (it was more so before Unification in 1956). But this is clearly not a zero sum game.

If a new state capital for Andhra-Rayalseema is created, other metros may benefit, but this will also mean more construction on the new capital, more work leading to an economic boom. The Andhra-Seema folks may work with a vengeance and leverage the huge seacoast they have for the first time. And if the Telangana issue is sorted out without partition, then the Brand will only bounce back stronger. Brand Mumbai has been resilient despite several major terrorist attacks. Brand Delhi remains strong despite turmoil in nearby Af-Pak. Didn't Japan witness a huge ascendance right after the World War II mayhem? So fellas, stay optimistic and hope that the uncertainity soon subsides, giving people like us work to do. The sun shines brighter, once the clouds clear up.

Pench Trip - Croquet, Riverbed Running (4 of 4)

2009-12-29T22:21:00.006+05:30

Sunday was our final day at Junglethlon, and that morning after breakfast we played a game of croquet. I had never played this Victorian game before but found it very interesting. Pradeep planted some hoops and sticks on the ground at various places and gave us a wooden mallet and four balls. Each player had to strike the ball through the hoops, hitting others’ balls to get ahead. It felt like a combination of golf (the putting) and billiards (hitting others’ balls).

After croquet, the final event of Junglethlon was river bed running. We trekked a bit to get to the river and then ran some 6 to 8 kms. Parts of the river were very scenic. I found a few trees in the dry riverbed that had massive bulbous roots, trunks and even branches making them look like they were made of potatoes!

Finally the time to disperse had come, and after the last meal together, the team left for Nagpur. On the way Pradeep showed us one of the schools that he supports and explained about the Pench Rakshak program. The work they do at the grassroots level in community support and education is amazing! We reached Nagpur railway station just in time, and said our goodbyes capping off a wonderful trip.

Pench Trip - Safari & Fire Making (3 of 4)

2009-12-29T22:15:00.006+05:30

We rose early, not to miss our appointment with Mr Sher Khan in the Pench forest. Rudyard Kipling spent his time in this forest and this is where he wrote the famous Jungle Book. Having read this story to my daughter several times I was all familiar with Bagheera, Baloo, Mowgli, Kaa and others – the area is full of their pictures on various signboards.

Once the red tape at the forest office was done with by Pradeep, we set forth in our gypsy into the forest. We were assigned a guide, despite his efforts the tiger was not traceable. We saw the tiger’s pugmarks though, and several game like Cheetal (a deer), Sambar (another Deer), Nilgai (an antelope), Warthog, Peacock etc. At Alikatta, we enquired about the ‘Tiger Show’ in which tigers are arranged to be ‘sighted’ on elephant back parties. The wait was long and the group was not keen on the ‘arrangement’ though I was not so sure. We moved on, and more of the same sightings followed till we exited the sanctuary, and got back to another sumptuous breakfast of puri-bhaji, poha and omelettes.

Major Pradeep wouldn’t have us rest, and the next task given to us was to light a fire. It again may sound simple, but the effort proved humongous (if you have seen Tom Hanks do it in the movie Castaway). Getting the tinder to light up in itself is tough and takes a long time rubbing wood against wood. We tried using a magnifying lens and a paper (a shortcut actually) but even that failed! The lens would burn a hole into the paper but it wouldn’t light up! Meanwhile our eyes were so strained that they almost popped out of the sockets. Though we finally used a match, a major lesson was learnt in putting together tinder, twigs, air (yes, Oxygen), sticks and logs into a fire-friendly arrangement.

Post lunch we went back to the night shelter task, cleared the floor of the large tent, erected the central pole that anchored the parachute, secured the parachute ropes to nearby trees. Srikanth and I deployed our fire skills in creating a fire place, a hole in the ground where the fire would burn through the night keeping us warm and the stories coming.

The next venture was to get into the jungle, walk around a bit, and then figure out how to get back. Before that we climbed a 25 feet tall water tank that gave a view of the jungle nearby. After walking around the jungle a bit, we used the sun’s position in the sky to determine which direction to return. We also learnt that at night, the crest of the moon always points west and on a full moon night, the ears of the bunny on the moon always point south.

Towards the evening, Srikanth, Manu and self took the cycles and headed to the check dam passing a few villages. It was a 6km each way ride, and was uneventful except for the spectacular fall I had. On the way back, I had gotten off road and was maneuvering my roadster back onto the road. While negotiating the sharp left, the handlebar reversed itself, abruptly stopping the cycle and sending me flying into the air. I fell on my bums, and then rolled over with barely a scratch. Had I resisted the fall injury would have been certain, I was happy that the fall was gracefully done.

The night was spent in the shelter we created, eating good food and listening to all kinds of stories. We also split into three shifts of two hours each for tending the fire. Pradeep later called up to say that the resort manager liked the shelter so much, that he planned to retain it.

Click here for the final part of the travelog

Pench Trip - Building Machan (2 of 4)

2009-12-29T21:59:00.007+05:30

The next day morning we visited Ramdham, a religious theme park on the Nagpur – Jabalpur highway. We had some time before the Junglethlon party picked us up at 11am. Major Pradeep Rao, Manu, Avni and Shrey welcomed us to the gypsy. It was a bit disappointing to see only four registrants though the Facebook page showed upto 33 people. The ‘extreme’ edition was scrapped as well – not that I was up for it (had a right calf muscle cramp and a left ankle-tendon pain). Nevertheless the drive to Pench was good – nice road and even nicer weather.

We stopped at Khawasa on the highway – Pradeep, Srikanth and I picked up roadster bicycles from Jaleel’s cycle shop. We cycled the 12kms to the Tiger-N-Woods camp located on the edge of the Pench Tiger Reserve. We were in the forest buffer zone and the ride was good. It helped ease up my calf muscle – cramps need massage and what better than a nice cycle ride? We passed Turia village and some Gond habitats before reaching the venue. En route, Pradeep pointed to a bad patch on the road saying he almost jackknifed into the ditch there – I rode carefully. My bicycle fall would happen later, on another ride.

At the venue, we had a quick ‘breakfast’ past noon – once again puri bhaji, and quickly got down to work. Our first task was to build a machaan on which six of us would spend the night. Pradeep showed us one with stilts in a nearby field, and another one on a tree without stilts. It all looked simple, but as we got down to finalizing the spot and identifying raw material, the complexity dawned on us. Should we leverage a clump of trees as stilts? Or do we build ground up? Can we strengthen the tree machaan if there is space for six? As we resolved these questions precious time sped by. We finally decided to use a parachute as canopy and built six stretcher type beds on stilts.

I had never wielded an axe before, but quickly learnt how to - find a foot rest for the left leg, bend at the waist but keep the rest of the back straight, swing fully and carefully hitting the wood into a V pattern. After some serious log cutting, I was a happy camper. Soon it was dark and we realized the stilts were not happening on time. The night-shelter task was abandoned only to be taken up the next day.

We sat around a bon fire having good food and even better banter. We spent the night in machaan style double bedrooms that were elegant to say the least – wide balcony looking out into thick jungle, well appointed bathrooms, large bed etc. Now Srikanth was serious about the challenge and spent the night in his sleeping bag, going to the real machaan near our camp site. Sincerity is his forte!

Click here for more on Day 3 of the trip

Pench Trip - Ramtek (1 of 4)

2009-12-29T21:56:00.005+05:30

Srikanth, my colleague at work and i headed out of Hyderabad on the night before Christmas eve. Luckily we missed the Telangana trouble brewing in the city just as the Home Minister made an announcement that triggered protests. We took the Dakshin express train to Nagpur and reached the next morning.

From Nagpur we headed to Pench on a red bus. Only that the Pench we first reached (via Parsheoni, where we took a jeep) was in Maharashtra, and the other end of the Pench tiger reserve. Animated discussions with locals helped us convert this failure into a success – we were very close to Ramtek and decided to spend the night there (at a far lesser cost than Pench!).

Ramtek has a lovely temple dedicated to Lord Ram situated on top of a steep hill. After checking into the Ramagiri lodge at the foothill, we climbed up the steep steps. It was only Srikanth, me and several langurs (monkeys) which seemed to have a free run there. There are three temples in a sequence located within a fort on the hill top. The architecture appeared to be a mix of North Indian style temple domes built on Hoysala style platforms. The serene atmosphere and the spiritual bearing of the langurs enhanced the winter breeze we were enjoying. No wonder, Lord Rama rested here before heading south to vanquish Ravana. And no wonder, Kalidasa sat on these very hills, composing the wonderful Meghadūta.

Click here for more on Day 2 of the Pench Trip

The Pench Trip

2009-12-29T20:55:00.006+05:30

It was a trip that was made in the usual year end tradition that I am developing now. Go out into the wilderness, commune with nature and challenge oneself with a trek in the second half of a December. The trigger this year is a reflection of how the internet is impacting us - I found the event and the organisers on Facebook! The destination was Pench Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh (MP) and the event Junglethlon.

In the following travelog posts, i will provide more details on what transpired each day.

Click onto Srikanth's blog for a more detailed (and better) account

The Second Half Marathon

2009-08-30T10:35:00.006+05:30

Hyderabad had its 2009 edition of Half & Full Marathon events today. And it was the occasion for me to complete my second half marathon. A decision to go for it was taken just two weeks back, in the euphoria after the Freedom Ride on Aug 15th. It was much like cramming for an exam overnight, and the preparation was not fully adequate. In terms of long runs, I could do one 10k run and another 9k. I was not sure of the 'how' but blindly went for it.

A big bummer was that i took the 'carb loading' thing too seriously. I must have overate yesterday and when I got up this morning, realized the tummy was not feeling right . Things could have gone worse, but i managed the run at a sedate pace and refrained from eating much (contrary to what is advised). The foot injury sustained in a charged-up Karate class was not helping much either. Overall I managed to still shave eleven minutes from my previous HM and clocked 2:27:38. I hope to improve this with better prep next time around.

I must thank the Hyderabad Runners group for the encouragement and guidance without which i could not have imagined running these kinds of distances. In my later teenage years i had sustained major shin injuries and any kind of running was fully out of question. The group led by the highly motivated Rajesh Vetcha, Satish Mandalika, Devyani Halder, VV Prasad, Vasu (vnug), Anirudh Pandey, Divya and many more, is a great example of excellence combined with humility.

The event itself is becoming more and more popular. This year there were several people from Kenya (where else, of course!), USA, South Africa etc. Several old men were running briskly easily beating people forty years younger to them! Many ladies and girls were also doing very well. Overall the run was well organized with lots of volunteers . Special mention to Riyaz, Srikanth who biked down from Habsiguda to Hitex, Sumanth who biked from Yousufguda, Deepthi who travelling from Fatehnagar and stayed at a hostel overnight, many more from my workplace. Let's hope this run gets a much bigger crowd next year.

More updates (Tweets) than posts (Blogs)

2009-07-23T22:16:00.005+05:30

I can't deny the fact that over the last few weeks the frequency of posts on this blog have decrease. Now, the tweets - that's another story - they are on the rise and just today i noticed that i tweeted almost six times in a day! Micro-blogging aka Tweeting has caught on, and i am hooked too! It is much easier to share a tweet about a thought, a feeling, a reaction, a mood, an amazing experience - instantaneously. To post to the blog on a topic, one has to collect one's thoughts, wait for that moment when there appears to be enough time, and then type out the words - too much work!

Tweets on the other hand, demand neither preparation nor perfection. You can tweet any time (the phone is always there), and there is no edit - once out, it is out; unless it is so bad that you have to delete it (you are allowed to!). There is a sublime beauty in the 140 character limit!

Part of a Guinness Record!

2009-06-27T21:59:00.007+05:30

Last month, i was fortunate to be part of a an extra ordinary event organized by Silicon Andhra, an event that pulled in a hundred sixty thousand people to sing the popular songs of a sixteenth century poet-saint Annamayya, on his 601st birthday. Annamayya occupies a unique place in Telugu history and literature - he had composed 32,000 songs devoted to Lord Venkateswara (Balaji). Each of these songs is a gem, and i had the good fortune of growing up listening to the LP records of MS Subbu Lakshmi singing them in her mesmerising voice. One of the most unforgettable experiences of my life was her live concert in 1994 (just the night before i had a big exam).

Now the artist/singing fraternity is fairly politicized (which fraternity is not?) and fragmented. However it was impressive to see many of them come together onto one platform and pull off this event. There was a grassroots movement too, by people in many villages, towns, schools and corporates to learn the songs. Since some Good Samaritans at my work place (Rambabu Kaipa - a CSR champion, Srinivas Prabhala - an accomplished artist) took the lead, it was easy for me to venture slightly beyond bathroom singing. On the big day, my eighty year old grand mother and I made it to the venue, amongst the milling crowds and savoured the occasion. There was a spring in my grandma's step despite a nagging knee injury, and she handled the crowds like a charm! The only thing amiss was the real sound of 160k voices which was drowned out by the blaring loudspeakers relaying the artists on stage (G Balakrishna Prasad and his son).

The event clearly brought out, the deep hunger people have to learn and enjoy Telugu classical music. Hope music in the state get a big boost with this Guinness record making event!

The Last Eleven Years

2009-06-09T21:31:00.004+05:30

Yesterday I completed eleven years of my work life. I have evolved a lot as an individual, yet in many ways I still remain the same 'old guy'. Incidentally over the last weekend, two of my companions on a long bike ride were trying to guess my age!

What caught my eye on the first day of the twelfth year, was this article by Ramachandra Guha on his reflections about the India of the last eleven years! He talks about how India is experimenting on various dimensions all at once - nationalistic, democratic, industrial, urban and social. I somehow remain utterly optimistic about how this evolution will culminate!

"Lashkar" by Mukul Deva

2009-05-02T07:08:00.002+05:30

It has been a while since i read fiction, and Mukul Deva's Lashkar proved to be a wonderful resumption point. Lashkar is a fast paced and gripping thriller, with a plot based on terrorism and Pakistan. Mukul goes to the heart of the matter touching both how terrorism impacts people at a personal level, and how it needs to be tackled. Took me most of a Saturday to run through it, and be amazed at the fact pace of it.

I grew up reading a lot of war fiction by Alistair McLean, Desmond Bagley, Robert Ludlum, Frederick Forsyth etc. Mukul's military thrillers are clearly in this genre and he easily ranks well in this peer group. Strongly recommend!

"Indians Deserve Their Politicians"

2009-05-01T09:54:00.005+05:30

Atanu Dey quotes this Financial Times article, and sums up that the Indian people deserve the Congress. An auto walla told me something similar yesterday evening. I was taking an auto rickshaw from Secretariat to Domalguda, hardly 1.5 km distance. Most auto wallas either do not come, or demand Rs 20-30 (way above the usual minimum fare of Rs 12).

This man was an exception, he smiled, and even politely enquired me about the elections. I told him about Loksatta the new party, and how it could win a few seats in Hyderabad. He nodded saying, "Well there are few educated people who will vote for them, especially in the Jubilee Hills constituency". When I suggested most other politicians are crooks, this young man (all of twenty years) concurred but added, "It is the Indian public that is to blame, we vote for them after taking money, we accept their biryani feasts and liquor packets and vote for them. We deserve their rule as we break the rules of civic engagement. We are the bigger thieves!". "Why, the other auto wallas demand Rs 20 for the same ride, isn't that too thievery?", he asked.

I came home feeling good about meeting one man with clarity of thought. He aptly summarised, what took an IIM professor a full book.

"Terrorism in India" & 'Secular' Bogeys

2009-05-01T08:16:00.008+05:30

Rediff published an article titled 'Terrorism started because of BJP' and links it to 26/11 Mumbai attacks. I am not a die-hard political supporter of BJP, but still find this article absolutely inane, because it confuses the real reasons behind the rise of terrorism.

Global terrorism traces back to the Cold War political tussle between USA and USSR, when the latter invaded Afghanistan. The US cynically exploited religion to defeat the Soviets, by funding terrorists and the Pakistan Army (which got radicalised thanks to General Zia and created the Taliban). Pakistan has been using both the funding (very cleverly procured and blackmailed, it is now clearly an art) and the terrorists as a weapon against India (since it has no other Raison d'être), leading to attacks such as 26/11. Now this Frankenstein monster is turning against Pakistan and threatens to destabilise the South Asia region. Destabilising effects will likely be more terrorist attacks in India and deeper trouble in Kashmir, as these terrorists and some Pakistani Army elements sort out their immediate issues and refocus on India.

It is ridiculous to see this desperate search for Indian 'equivalents' for the AfPak terrorism patterns, and blame them as the causes, all just to sound more 'secular'.

Dream: An Oil Addiction Free World

2009-04-30T22:04:00.003+05:30

I ran into this awesome video of Shai Agassi on the TED blog and was blown away. Blown away at the sheer guts of this man who plans to cure the world of its crude oil addiction. He is dreaming and building a parallel infrastructure of electric cars, battery exchange stations (kill the gas station / petrol bunk), clean power generating hubs that create the portable charges and new battery technology underpinning all this. I can't wait to see the Big Oil corporatedom kicked in its butt. Can't wait to see the filthy rich Sheikhs slowly lose their oil power, power that is being misused to foment terror wars and prop up despotic regimes in the Middle East.

Voting in the Indian Elections 2009

2009-04-30T21:27:00.005+05:30

Much has been written about the Indian Elections 2009 and turns out that the voting turnout in 2009 has been higher than the previous ones in 2004. More significantly the urban, educated class which has hitherto been apathetic has turned out in significant numbers to vote. I had written about this before the elections started and the hunch turned out to be true. What caused this change?

New generation parties like Loksatta have emerged on the political scene - these seek to mirror the aspirations of the first time voters seeking change, and have enhanced the voter turnout.
Movements such as Letsvote.in have added to this momentum, the turnout at the Hyderabad walk was large and showed the enthu among the IT crowd.
Not to mention Jaagore which caused quite a stir in mobilising voter registrations. I was impressed with their CRM like approach to voter databases; however THE missing part was ensuring voters confirmed their names in the electoral rolls - this alone could have saved a few lakh votes, given the scale of their campaign targeting One Billion Votes.

After the election day, I checked with my friends on their voting experience - many confirmed that they indeed voted and proudly showed their index fingers embossed with the indelible voter ink (apparently in Maharashtra they smeared the middle finger, leading to a comic sight with voters showing it up). However a fairly large number also reported that their names were missing from the electoral rolls. All these cases could have been avoided if only the prospective voters had leveraged one of the many web resources available:

http://www.pollingbooth.in/ - check your name in the rolls 3-4 weeks before the election data, if it is missing, immediately raise a request to the election office in your jurisdiction. In my case, I found my name but failed to notice the change in the polling booth; so on the election day, had to rush to the new booth i was assigned, some 4 kms away from my home.
http://www.ceo.ap.gov.in/ - same as above, or the local equivalent
http://www.ceoandhra.nic.in/Final_erolls_2009_II.html - same as above
http://myneta.info/ - a wonderful tool comparing the profiles of the candidates in your constituency. This link showed me the picture for Secunderabad before i voted.

Hopefully the next election (which one fears, may not be too far away with the expected hung mandates) will see these trends intensify and the lessons learnt implemented. Technology would then have really helped influence change in the polity!

Biking now

2009-04-26T22:22:00.007+05:30

After months of poking with the idea of buying a bike, i finally took the plunge last month and bought a Firefox Target, my first ever geared bicycle. The motives were many - get some exercise, make an eco friendly gesture, do something other than the plain old running that i fall back to, explore nature (atleast the green university campuses and cantonments in the twin cities), go on some long rides, splurge on myself (which I am not that good at) etc. The beautiful beast (no oxymoron) looks something like this:

I am well over the post purchase dissonance phase which thankfully was short. There are pricier and fancier bikes, but this is just what i need now. I did one brief lap in wilderness hidden within the Hyderabad Central University (HCU) campus (under the watchful eyes of HBC ace Sunil Menon), and several short road trips closer home.

I love the smooth ride of a bike, the almost noiseless way in which it rides the road. Cruising on the bike is next to the feel of a bird gliding! I plan to tweet about my bike escapades in the coming days. A distant but highly ambitious wish would be to complete the TFN this December.

Dream: A Wire free Paradise

2009-04-26T20:27:00.009+05:30

We all hate bondage, no need to go all the way back to the Dark Ages of Slavery or Karl Marx's exhortation about 'nothing to lose but your chains'. How about the wires that comes with gadgets and appliances? Do they count as bondage?Name a single gadget that comes with no wires (do not skip the power cable)! The following is a view of a typical office desk:

Laptop: Power cord, Ethernet cable, Blackberry charger cable,
External key board connector cable, external mouse cable
VoIP phone with its own power cord and ethernet cable
External monitor with power cable, video out cable

The view at home is not much different, add more cables for the broadband - modem (ethernet cable, power cord, adsl splitter with two telephone wires) and wireless router (power cord, ethernet cable). So we have almost ten cables that help connect one to the world? More like ten chains around my limbs that get in the way of easily moving my machine to wherever i want to and work from where ever i wish.

The view from the street, especially in an Indian city or town would be one infested with the cable that brings home Cable TV. They literally grew overnight with the cable TV boom that happened in the early nineties. Another eyesore is the electricity poles and wires seen all over the country.

So the wish is for a chain free world - one where devices communicate through wimax, bluetooth, infrared, wi-fi whatever protocol you name it, but lose the wires please. What about electricity and the ubiquitous power chargers? Arguably electricity heralded the tyranny of the black wire and by now the earth is mired in billions of miles of it. Technology promises a way out - there is talk of space based power stations that harvest the sun and beam the energy via microwave streams. California and Japan are already on this path. Hopefully the world will one day have something common with what was two hundred years ago - no obscene wires lurking around.

Dream: Coastal Living in India

2009-04-26T19:00:00.013+05:30

I have often been asked by some people abroad, about the apparent lack of interest Indians have in 'living the coastal life' despite having a long coastline. I must admit, I did not have an answer, except mumble that the Indian idea of 'living the life' is different from what the Americans, British or the Australians may have. Indian kids in general do not grow up on the rich feast of sports and active lifestyle that kids in such countries do. Our kids are anyway constantly prodded by their parents to do three things: study, study and study more. And when these kids grow up, they don't change; in most cases active lifestyle may mean watching the next T20 cricket match, firmly ensconced on the couch with that bowl of potato chips.

Fortunately i spent my childhood in the coastal cities of Visakhapatnam (aka Vizag) and Paradip - as a child i remember awaiting our weekly trip to Ramakrishna Beach in Vizag. In Paradip, our school gang used to tear up the beach after every major exam. The tremendous feeling of post-exam-mania release would always find its vent near the Bay of Bengal. And the summer holidays had numerous bike trips from our township nestled in Paradip Phosphates, were always to the deserted beach. But all this was raw energy with absolutely no supporting infrastructure for sports like sailing, yachting, parasailing, canoeing etc. The same is true even today though some sports are faintly picking up in places like Rushikonda near Visakhapatnam. Indians are slowly waking up to a more active lifestyle, what with increasing global exposure of the IT generation: groups focused on Running (eg: Hyderabad Runners), Cycling (eg: HBC), Adventure (eg: www.hydventura.com), etc have emerged speaking of only one place - Hyderabad.

Now coming back to the coastline theme, India has all of 7,517 km of it, and except for pockets such as Goa or a few kilometres of beachfront property in major cities like Mumbai, Cochin, Madras, Visakhapatnam there is not much of Real Estate activity. Even the big boom of the last five years did not differentiate Coastal areas per se, as a hot zone. In my home state of Andhra Pradesh, the big Coastal Corridor project that was hatched by Chandrababu Naidu in his term and then continued by the Congress government was dropped due to political pressure - the government could not figure out an easy way of compensating the displaced and since it was an election year, they developed cold feet and scrapped it.

Big development is required in the coastal areas - to attract industry, the services sector which bring in jobs and hence people who will spur demand for quality houses on the beaches. Such demand will also carry a niche that demands quality coastal living.

Potential Post Election Scenarios

2009-04-05T20:51:00.003+05:30

The election fever is surely on in India and people are hotly debating potential scenarios after what could very well be the most closely fought election so far. No one's got a clue of who will win at the country level, or in states like Andhra Pradesh. The pendulum could swing any way making the results highly unpredictable.

My hunch though is that the BJP may just be able to pull ahead as the single largest party in Parliament. The reason is that the Congress may cede ground in AP, Karnataka, Tamilnadu, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Delhi (though they just won the state elections) and Maharashtra. Orissa and WB may not make up for the loss. A BJP government in an era of failing and strife torn neighbor states (Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka) is slightly better than having Congress steer foreign policy.

Trends in World Religion?

2009-04-05T19:33:00.006+05:30

Newsweek has an interesting article titled "The Post Christian America" - more than 10% of Americans now identify themselves as non-believers. This trend if indeed true has major ramifications in a world increasingly getting polarised by religious hatred and divisions.

It is possible that a similar trend is being played out in the Islamic world with the mega-trend of globalisation creating a similar feeling of 'openness' among people. This would have led to a huge backlash by vested interests (read Wahabbi Saudis) using religious fervour as a weapon to beat everyone around into submission. For instance the recent Taliban moves in Swat Valley and the overall context of Taliban in Af-Pak going back 25-30 years could be just part of that context.

In the longer run, this trend could point to a world where well, religion isn't all that matters. If one doesn't care what religion the other person claims to (or doesn't bother to) follow, then the world could definitely become a more peaceful space.

Elections 2009 - Technology & Youth Make It a Turning Point In India's History

2009-04-05T14:29:00.013+05:30

The election scene for 2009 is slowly unfolding and though i was unusually aloof in the beginning, the excitement is catching up and i now find myself scanning news and even volunteering for a new political party. A significant development this time has been that people instead of shrugging their shoulders at the dirty political landscape, are actually wanting to do something. Baby steps abound, examples include:

Leveraging the Net to share information on criminal backgrounds of politicians (http://www.nocriminals.org/)
Professionals like Meera Sanyal (a banker in South Mumbai) contesting the elections
Professionals across cities launching the Pledge to Vote campaign (http://letsvote.in), the Hyderabad event just happened today morning near the Hussain Sagar lake with thousands participating
The Jaagore campaign titled One Billion Votes India, which has been running for several months now and supported by leaders like NRN of Infosys
Eminent entrepreneurs like Rajesh Jain forming support groups such as Friends of BJP (that can also act as pressure groups) with leading political parties.
Hectic usage of Orkut for canvassing which is perhaps the Social Network with the largest penetration in India.

But the most impressive of all developments is the launch of Lok Satta Party as a political movement. Launched by a former IAS office, Jayaprakhas Narayan this is the only party with clear cut plans on removing poverty rapidly in 5 years, building infrastructure etc. Obviously they are not promising dole outs that make beggars out of voters. Loksatta has picked up momentum with several professionals joining them and supporting them as volunteers. You can check their web site and Twitter site to know more about what they are doing.

Other events that have fanned these embers include Obama's election in the US last year, demonstrating that nothing is impossible in politics. The 26/11 attacks in Mumbai too have stirred people into taking some action.

These steps will only pick up momentum and I clearly see a strong working alternative emerge that will capture 8 to 10% of the popular vote next time around. Our politicians, smart as they are will soon start to appeal to this voter base which will mean a true change in politics. The virtual circle will progress leading to a more mature polity in 10-15 years from now.

Liberated from Windows

2009-03-18T11:14:00.000+05:30

I always had a fascination for Linux and Open Software and last month finally push came to shove and i made the move on my home laptop. The trigger was a 'yahoo lover' worm that wriggled into my Windows XP laptop somehow and started creating huge problems. So i ditched Windows lock stock and barrel and installed Ubuntu Linux. The installation was not a very simple affair but i persevered and am enjoying the benefits now. The system boots well, i have most of the software i need and the performance is pretty good. Firefox ran well until i realized it had issues with Flash movies which means no YouTube. Opera came to the rescue and i am already loving this browser compared to Firefox (almost as much as Linux over Windows).

The only pending issue is getting iTunes to work on Linux; Apple is never going to release a version for Linux and i am trying alternatives. Most can do basic iTunes stuff but i need something that syncs podcasts well. I am not that worried about the Nike+ runs which i will sync manually or write a small script if i am upto it.

My Vipassana Retreat

2009-01-31T21:36:00.006+05:30

The new year started on an excellent personal note - i finally managed to make time (ten days) for Vipassana meditation retreat; something that i was mulling on for almost a year. The break finally came on January 1, actually i had to break away from the usual busy schedule to create space for this.

What got me there was my initial curiosity about meditation, something i had never done in even a half-serious manner. The closest was some Pranayama, which it turns out is somewhat a mechanical exercise, compared to serious meditation. And what i discovered during those ten days was immensely beneficial - several a-ha moments, the biggest being that this technique opens up an entire new world to you, one in which everything from the breath to the body, thought, feelings are all facets of a single reality. Digging deeper into this reality will take you to THE ultimate (whatever it is). I feel like a new born in this path, and am no where qualified to even contemplate what that later stages are. The key as they often say during the course is to take it easy (be 'Equanmious and Aware'), whatever may happen.

Of course it was not easy staying away, being cut off for those ten days - no telephone, no blackberry, no reading, no writing, no television, no newspaper/magazines, no internet, no going out etc. Oddly enough it was also liberating in a way though the pain of staying away from the family and being incommunicado was pinching. But having made it through, one feels one is ready for anything!

Ushering in Obama

2009-01-31T21:28:00.003+05:30

It so happened that after two and a half years I made a trip to the United States of America, the night before Obama's swearing in as the US President. What a momentous occasion - though none of the post election frenzy was evident, one could clearly feel the after effects and the optimism with which this nation is looking forward to his rule. When checking into a Manhattan hotel near Times Square at midnight, the hotel receptionisits both Afro-American were unusually kind and saying that in Obama's rule all good things can happen.

Kerala again, a year later!

2008-12-29T09:41:00.004+05:30

Thanks to the Hydventura team at Hyderabad, i signed up for a trip to Wayanad during the Christmas long weekend. And it so happened that i was in Mumbai the day before this started and hence went straight to Kozhikode the night before. Staying on the beach at Kozhikode that Christmas eve and savouring the sights/smells of the beach was a bonus! Watching the waves come and go, I felt an inkling of what the first half of January would hold for me!

The next day I enjoyed a 6k run along the beach and after a Kerala style breakfast, left for the hills in a red colored KSRTC bus. On the way i stopped at the Pookode Lake - the water was clear and fresh and the boating serene. By the evening I reached the rendezvous point where the rest of the team led by the charismatic Srikanth Spiky Perinkulam landed.

The next morning we geared up to climb Chembra, the tallest peak in Kerala. The climb showed me just how underdeveloped my quads and hamstrings were! We spent the next day at Edakkal caves, yet another place that highlights the disaster that Indian Tourism is. There was a very scary climb to the top there, one that triggered a mini-vertigo at each turn. Felt relieved after I hit terra firma. That day we also hit the Soochipara Falls where the water was cold but refreshing. The night ended with a late camp fire.

The last day of the trip was a straight drive back to Bangalore via Ganpathivattom (Sulthan Bathery), Bandipur Wild Life Sanctuary and Mysore. We sighted a wild elephant on the way and had exceptionally delicious tender coconut water at a village named Khagradondi. I also sighted two Colnago bicycles mounted on an SUV, that was part of the Tour of Nilgiris contingent (still agonising on my bike decision :-) Finally after lunch at Kamats, we stopped at the Ranganathittu Bird Santcuary (a familiar place) on the way. At Bangalore Sharmas Travel provided a comfortable Volvo bus that took us to Hyderabad on time the next day.

See Spiky's blog for more on the trip.

Post Mumbai Thoughts

2008-12-16T22:28:00.005+05:30

Here are some thoughts post Mumbai:

Un-Partition of India?
Re-Partition of Pakistan?
The idea of Pakistan and its unwinding
Anti-feudalistic undercurrents in Pakistan donning mask of religion
The Infinite Patience of India
'The Thing' - source in Wahabbi fundamentalism,
The New Great Game - Afghanishtan & FATA

Each bullet above could be a whole post in itself, but just letting these thoughts linger

Hyderabad Runs For Mumbai, My First Half Marathon

2008-11-30T18:10:00.007+05:30

Hyderabad ran today in support of Mumbai! The Hyderabad 10k and Half Marathon event that had over 25000 registrations this time had a large turn out inspite of a drizzle, with people chanting slogans in support of Mumbaikars, 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai' and 'Vandemataram'. What really scares terrorists is people not getting cowered down and not leaving hope! India has shown that in ample measure, if today's run at Hyderabad is anything to go by. On the political side too things are changing with a usually thick-skinned political leadership rolling heads and sacking bureaucrats.

For me personally too, the day was significant with me logging my first half marathon. All of 21 kilometers in about two hours and thirty six minutes. The pace was slow but steady and though i went too slow in the first half, wanted to play it safe to avoid injury (the course was all asphalt, as opposed to my training on dirt trails and grass).

ps: I watched the movie 'Wednesday' today which tells the story of a Mumbai citizen fed up with the spineless politicians and engineers the termination of four dreaded terrorists all by himself. The movie is highly topical in the backdrop of Mumbai.

Mumbai Attacks: A Diehard Optimist's View

2008-11-28T22:42:00.009+05:30

Much has been broadcast, blogged, twittered about the dastardly acts in Mumbai. And much has this been depressing, i am trying to see the silver lining in the dark clouds that hand over us. Heroism: by the army, NSG in particular and the valiant Tatas and their dignified staff in the Taj who demonstrated professionalism of the highest order. There is more than a faint hope that Indian political establishment will wake up. If not a deeply concerned Obama who is focusing on the Afghan-Pakistan situation will surely help. These attacks are surely a spill over.

The terrorists (AlQaeda, LeT, JeM etc) are deeply concerned that their cup of hate will get empty if India and Pakistan continue to get friendly (leading to a potential Kashmir solution). They are scared by the elections this month which have had a big turn out in Kashmir. If things get normal on Kashmir, who will get recruited? And if the benefits of India's growing economy get to all its people, then who is left to get alienated? Hence the carnage.

Interested neighbours that seek strategic depth in India for their own reasons have fueled such carnage (read China, Saudi Arabia). Pakistan was assertive in fanning fires before but has hollowed out now as its Frankenstein monsters are now fully unleashed. Most big attacks in India have always been in the backdrop of an improving peace situation. We now have to hope that our venal and geriatric politicians do not play into the terrorists' hands by fanning violence or blaming the Pakistani people. Though the perpetrators originated in Pakistan, the situation is delicate in Pakistan which itself has violence on a daily basis.

Hopefully smarter people in Indian establishment will emerge to handle this. No wonder Home Minister Shivraj Patil is seen nowhere! Absolutely nowhere! Instead we have the old Pranab Mukherjee addressing the press, mouthing nonsense. We need to create a department of Homeland Security. Station more commandos in all major cities. Young people like us have to get into politics and get rid of this geriatric muck that rules our country - not a single leader under 50!

Back in the Running

2008-10-19T22:00:00.001+05:30

After a bout of sickness and a subsequent recovery due to travel (both vacation and business), I hit the treadmill this weekend with a couple of 5ks. Two days ago I did a tentative 3k to get the legs loosened up a bit.

The biggest lesson i have now learnt about running is to NOT over-stretch oneself. Last month i thought i was doing well with the simple Hal Higdon training schedule and completed four weeks of it. Well, almost. Then a long run with the Hyderabad Runners group happened and when I was supposed to run 5 miles, i got inspired (perhaps overconfident) and ran 11.2 kms (7 miles) with a big part of it on a hard surface. This naturally weakened the body more than what was 'scheduled' and some careless eating proved to be the tipping point. Some more business travel in the following days did not actually help in the recovery. So here i am having lost two to three weeks of the schedule but perhaps a bit wiser!

Temples in the Godavari Districts

2008-10-10T15:55:00.000+05:30

Temple tourism is a great way to explore India and take a peek into the cultural mystique that is diverse yet permeates all of our country. In my third and final post of my Godavari travelogue, I will now cover a few temples we visited.

Antarvedi is a small temple village located close to the point where Godavari

(it's Vasishta distributary) meets the sea. The temple is dedicated to Lord Nrisimha and is more than 500 years old. We reached the place around 8 am when the once-a-day abhishekham puja happens to the nija roopa vigramaham (the stone idol without any decorations). The poojari (priest) was friendly, methodical and impressive in his conduct and handling of the pilgrims. With the temple thing done, we next drove to the beach which is a popular place for the locals. The beach was pristine and definitely on par with the beaches at Vizag or even Goa. There is also an old light house nearby; from its tower gallery one can have panoramic views of the sea and the river meeting it. I recalled my trip to the same place more than eleven years ago when I had taken a ferry ride across the river, an auto rickshaw to the village and then rented a bicycle to go up to the beach. Now it was a cab ride all the way from our resort at Dindi!

Ryali is a unique temple dedicated to Lord Vishnu's Mohini form which is feminine. The idol is very unique, made out of single soft stone and appears to be in the Hoyasala style of Karnataka (very reminiscent of the exquisite sculptures in Beluru, Halebidu and Somnathpura). The temple charged five rupees as entrance fee into the sanctum sanctorum which appeared strange initially as most temples in India necessarily have a free darshan scheme. We soon realized we got our money's worth when the priest conducted a tour of the temple sanctum sanctorum and thoroughly explained each facet of the highly detailed sculpture.

When our cab crossed to the west of National Highway 5 to get to Ryali, I immediately noticed a stark difference in the socio-economic landscape of the area. While the area on the east appeared prosperous with good roads and some signs of affluence around, the one on the west appeared decrepit and had pot hole riddled roads. This difference was almost like West and East Germany! What was constant throughout though were the countless hoardings proclaiming support to Chiranjeevi's newly launched Praja Rajyam Party.

Draksharamam is a famous temple on the Shiva pilgrimage circuit of Asia. We visited this as a day trip out of Kakinada a port town on the east coast of India. This temple is also one of the five major Shiva temples located in AP. While the temple is very special and steeped in history, it was a bit of a disappointment to see the priests there abusing their position to extract money from the pilgrims.

Kotipalli is a temple just ten kms away from Draksharamam and hence we extended our drive further south. The temple hardly had any visitors but the local person was keen on charging a hefty parking fees for the only vehicle that came there. The temple was nice and the unique thing about this is the Shiva's lingam being submerged in water that oozes out of the ground. This lingam is actually housed a bit away from the main sanctum sanctorum of the temple. Just outside the temple, there is a large lake with a huge Shiva statue situated in the middle.

There are other well known temples in the Godavari districts that I did not cover in this trip, but had a chance to visit many years ago. These include Annavaram, Palakollu, Bhimeswaram and few more. More about them in a later post after I revisit them.

More of River Godavari - Dindi Resorts and House Boat

2008-10-09T14:48:00.001+05:30

In continuation of my last post, I now write about the rest of my week long travels around the districts of Godavari. We returned back to Rajamahendri after the Papi Kondalu Trip a bit tired. The next morning after a heavy breakfast at the River Bay, we took a cab to Dindi a quaint little village along a distributary of the Godavari where the AP Tourism Department has recently built a resort. En route to the resort, we stopped briefly at the Dhawaleswaram Barrage a structure built more than 100 years ago that completely transformed the economy of the Godavari area, making it the rice bowl of India! One can see many statues saluting Sir Arthur Cotton for the hugely noble feat; it is also a coincidence that Cotton was an evangelist and one can see continuing symbols of conversions in the Godavari areas.

Once we got onto the National highway connecting Madras to Kolkata, we also saw hundreds of plant nurseries that export decorative plants of all kinds lined up along the road. After stopping at one of them and checking it out, we reached the resort at Dindi. Being a government managed resort there were issues like the restaurant menu being very restrictive and the lawns not shaped up well etc (worst part was the dirty bath area adjoining the swimming pool). But on the positive side, the rooms were spacious and provided basic service. Our intent was to stay the night there and board the house boat the next morning.

We found the house boat somewhat dilapidated from the outside and the maintenance was poor. The rooms inside were well maintained though and the deck upstairs was also just about okay. The railings along the boat were not in the best of condition and god forbid an accident waiting to happen. Our cruise along the river did make up for these shortcomings. We first went on a pre-lunch ride from Dindi all the way to Narsapur which is the last major town before the river's confluence with the sea. The ride was slow, idyllic and all we saw was water and millions of coconut trees. After returning to the resort, and finishing lunch we then proceeded on another cruise in the opposite direction to an island named Sivakodi Lanka.

The sun was setting - a pretty sight in itself, and the breeze cool and gentle making this ride even more memorable. We alighted at the island and saw ruined structures that were used for tourists as overnight lodges. For whatever reason, they are no longer in use. The island had lots of tall green grass and several milkmen were cutting it away, packing it into bales and ferrying them across the river to their cow yards. We finally turned back to the resort and actually had a target to reach there by six pm. There is a government regulation about not having vessels ply after six in the evening as fishermen take over the river then. We spent the night in the houseboat and except for the occasional swaying of the bedroom it was pretty good.

Trip to Papi Kondalu along River Godavari

2008-10-07T13:33:00.013+05:30

My long awaited vacation finally started with a cruise along the river Godavari to the scenic Papi Kondalu hills in Andhra Pradesh. The previous day we checked into the excellent River Bay Hotel in Rajamahendri (Rajahmundry as the Britishers renamed it).

We took an early morning bus to Pattiseema where the cruise started from. The upstream journey was wonderful with the river gracefully snaking its way up the plains into the thickly forested hills. The climax was the stretch where we entered the famous Papi Hills where the hill ranges are so closely spaced that it actually looks like the river is removing curtain after curtain in its relentless journey. The river here gets to just 150-200 metres wide, a fraction of its girth at Rajamahendri where the rail cum road bridge itself is 5 kms wide.

We took the 200 air conditioned seater from Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (APTDC) manned by a dutiful and polite crew. Unfortunately the whole booking and boarding was messed up by the management and we heard that the cruise day before had to be cancelled after starting off as they realised the boat was over-crowded. Though the journey was beautiful, the boarding and ticketing process was mis-managed. APTDC still follows a manual booking process that complicates booking and cancelation big time! The boat was also slow (one felt someone jogging along the bank would have moved faster) and the journey was about 10 hours long! For someone wishing to cover this, I would recommend a trip to Kunavaram from Bhadrachalam, a famous temple town in Khammam district; from Kunavaram one can hire a boat and complete a round trip to the Papi Hills in about 4-5 hours.

Eleven years ago, I had an opportunity to do this journey but from the other way. I took a bus from Bangalore to Hyderabad and from there a connection to Bhadrachalam. After a day or two there covering places like Parnasala and Kinnerasani Wild Life Sanctuary, I moved to Kunavaram and stayed overnight paying a princely sum of eight rupees for renting a cot! The next morning I took the daily passenger motor launch to Rajamahendri that costed rupees thirty inclusive of lunch. That journy was special - I ended up spending more time on the roof of the boat and we touched almost every village on either side of the river. Looking back it almost has a 'Swades' movie like touch to it. I recall seeing so many kids splashing about in the water and this time could not spot a single soul frolicing in the water! I am told that the demography along the river has somewhat changed and people have moved on to the cities where more opportunities beckon in the risng economy of India. In a few years the ambitious Polvaram project will dam the river a few kms north of Rajamahendri transforming the economy of the whole state and also displacing several thousand villagers. That will change the demography more abruptly and take away the beauty of Papi Kondalu for ever.

"Go Kiss The World"

2008-09-21T21:45:00.009+05:30

Two books in a month is fast reading when compared to my regular pace. It also means that my regular spend on money is actually yielding some returns.The latest book i managed to finish is another biography, written in a friendly and fast pace. In 'Go Kiss the World', Subroto Bagchi writes about his life, what has shaped him and shares several useful nuggets for any young person.

Several things about Subroto and his book immediately struck a chord as i share the same background or context. I too spent most of teen years in Orissa, changed four schools and loved the experience. The open spaces at our township in Paradip, my schooling at Kendriya Vidyalaya, the library that exposed me to great English novels which eventually helped me crack b-school exams with ease. I have sometimes wondered if that was a blessing or a curse since I was not exposed to enough competition that led to spectacular failures in competitive exams right after my Class XII. Fortunately things turned for the better once a stint in big city academia and the ruthless competition there exposed all my weaknesses. I think most people who grow up in small towns indulge in this self doubt.

Bagchi admits that he was not cut out for a military career and though he was selected as the best NCC Cadet in the country, stayed away from it. He was fortunate to get some frank advice from a military person he later calls an angel. Later his first job was as a Lower Division Clerk (LDC) in the Orissa government. If not for some perhaps misplaced overconfidence, I too would have ended up as an LDC in my first job. After my own experimentation with a military career, one of my relatives was keen that I take up some job and sent me several application forms for exams conducted by the government for selection into LDC positions. I promptly said No, though at that time i was not aware of what i would end up doing. I had no angel like Bagchi's when I was teenager and ended up wasting a couple of years of my academic career! But I found my angel later in final year of graduation (one Capt. Parthibhan of Pentafour Software in 1995), and this man who had then just returned from Singapore pointed me in the right direction. The book underscores the need to find good mentors and also be available to others as a mentor.

On a TV interview I happened to see while reading this book, Bagchi answered to a question, that one company that he really admires is Infosys. He calls Infosys an institution and not just a company. Building a company is not a big deal, but building an institution is! I couldn't agree less having seen this company for quite some time now.

One of the things I liked is the perspective of a career spanning thirty or forty years and not a few years or the current job. I found myself giving similar advice to a group of youngsters couple of days ago! He also debunks the romantic myth several IT professionals hold about early retirement; I take that as a timely advice. I really wish I had read a book like this before I started my career - could have done a few things differently.

Fortune mag on Business Coaches

2008-09-06T06:31:00.004+05:30

The September 1, 2008 edition of Fortune magazine carries a review of three business coaches and their methodologies. Stephen Covey, David Allen and Jim Loehr - all three charge an arm and a leg but promise nothing short of salvation ('meet your life's ultimate mission'), though in different ways. The author obviously does not announce a winner or recommend a method, but does provide a good inside peek, having interacted with the messiahs themselves and then their trained 'facilitators' .

I have flirted with the methods of the first two and learnt something from each over the years. Covey's book was read almost nine years ago and I still remember it having left a distinct and almost inspiring touch on my psyche. However that it did not last long and I did not take it fully forward (guess my life would have been different otherwise!).

I came across David Allen's "Getting Things Done" this year and liked it very much. I now use it to keep mail box clean and lean. Am still struggling to integrate Outlook tasks with 'Next actions' in my inbox. And still have to the higher things in life that he promises will happen.

Loehr's theory is somewhat new but then not entirely new. He is a sports psychologist and much of what he says is also said by Lance Armstrong in his biography. In a way I have recently begun to do what he espouses. If you are a regular reader of this blog, you would have guessed by now that i am into running with a goal to complete a half marathon by this year end. What you would pay Loehr thousands of dollars to learn in person is already encapsulated in this training workout schedule by Hal Higdon, which is helping thousands of clueless novices like me achieve running goals!

Link to Fortune magazine which actually doesn't help, read another review here.

Google Chrome shines

2008-09-05T20:20:00.003+05:30

Do I need a new web browser? Not really but i still downloaded Google Chrome and played with it. A fast and neat browser, but I won't make the switch completely yet as I love my FireFox browser extensions (feedly and meetimer) which are also newly installed! Call it fancy for a new thing if you would. What I like about Chrome is that is stable and hence saves minutes of browsing time each day. The browser is not 'in the face' and does not get into the way of whatever you are browsing.

Now Chrome is new but still underscores the importance of a developer community, which Firefox seems to have mastered. Google will surely attract developers who will mimick or create more Firefox like add ons. Microsoft must be wondering what to do, now that Google has opened up yet another flank in its ongoing war.

Ganesha Shopping

2008-09-03T22:04:00.000+05:30

September is when the Hindu festival of Ganseha (Vinayaka Chavithi) comes. One the most colourful and enjoyable aspects of the Ganesha festival is the streets decorated with various puja items. Figurines and statues of various sizes, shapes and colors line up the streets. Heaps of stems and green leaves of various trees and plants, called patri and banana shoots turn the streets a riot of green. Fruits ranging from velakkayi, apple, guava, corn etc are also sold - these make up a palavalli (small ceiling made of bamboo sticks). What i enjoy the most is buying these from the hawkers and vendors who mostly come from nearby villages. Their rustic demeanour and simplicity is perhaps the reason. One such occasion at Gudivada (my home town) eleven years ago is still fresh in mind. I had spent a lot of time speaking to the kids on the street in the process of buying the stuff. Perhaps what keeps this occasion still relatively free from commercialisation is that this comes only once a year, and the ad-hoc suppliers are from the villages.

Nike Human Race

2008-08-31T22:03:00.000+05:30

Nike has organised a world wide 10k race today touting this as the largest such race ever. Those not in the chosen 25 cities can run on their own, and need to sync their runs using the Nike plus ipod kit. Nike is raising $50 per runner and donating $5 to charity, wonder what the cost breakup is. Some experienced runners found this run amusing, but the sheer scale of this and the technology driven nature makes this unique.

I chose Indira Park in Hyderabad for my run - approximately six and half laps. I am still recovering from my comparitively long runs and somehow managed to complete it. It felt good and the fact that lakhs of people world over are running meant something. It was also a proper 10k i ran with some restraint and carrying a water bottle throughout. So i do not feel as terrible as last week.

Computing on Cloud 9

2008-08-30T22:14:00.000+05:30

I happened to run into two live events on a technology topic this week. The topic is Cloud Computing, something that promises to stop companies from worrying about technology infrastructure and scaling it up. The first event involved an Amazon guy who made a strong pitch to IT Services companies to help them take this trend to their customers. The second event (held today) was a technology barcamp at Hyderabad. Two guys from Google talked about the Google App Engine (GAE), but I was more impressed by an unassuming entrepreneur who demoed Amazon Web Services (AWS) in action. Unfortunately his map making product is likely to be eclipsed by Google's Map Maker even before it hits the market. But he showed how AWS was far more flexible and powerful than GAE.

This trend is particularly relevant in Indian context as it has a potential create vast economies of scale in computing thereby making Information Technology accessible at low price points. IT adoption in India is at a world class level in the big corporates, but SMEs have not embraced it yet due to price and maintenance issues. Cloud Comupting could free up all of that and jumpstart the productivity of the Indian economy.

Chiru throws a party

2008-08-30T12:02:00.003+05:30

Popular Telugu film star Chiranjeevi launched a political party with fanfare this month. Motives are to do-good and 'clean up' the much system. He claims former President of India Dr. Abdul Kalam as his inspiration among others. What remains to be seen is if his coterie of family and friends will help him in his or will they help themselves. People though seem willing to give him a chance.

This throws the political equations in the state of AP awry and no one knows who will win the elections next year. But having another strong regional party will definitely help the state; just see how Tamilnadu manages the federal setup no matter who is in power on either side.

Recovery and Run

2008-08-28T21:01:00.004+05:30

The Sunday run took its toll on me as i ran without any water or an eat! The weather was not very cool either. Even after i got home, breakfast and refill were not on my mind. So the next four days I spent recovering from sore muscles and finally this morning went to Indira Park for a 6 km run. I am deliberately keeping my pace slow (it is anyway fairly slow) to avoid injury.

Rahul Varghese wrote a very nice article "Wake up call from Beijing" exhorting Indians to take up more running. See it here. I like his missionary zeal which was on display ten days ago at the Hyd Marathon.

Mangalampally Balamurali Live!

2008-08-25T07:45:00.004+05:30

Last night i had a wonderful opportunity to listen to the legendary Mangalampally live at the Ravindra Bharati auditorium. I am not big into Carnatic music - cannot make out the nuances of ragas but can somewhat understand the language (mostly Telugu) and the devotion (Bhakti) that makes a composition. As a child, i grew up listening mostly to MS Subbulakhmi and Balamurali on the gramaphone record though i had no schooling in any form of music. My favourites composers are the famous Tyagaraja, Annamayya, Shyama Sastri and Ramadasu. Balamurali sang from the works of all of the above and more! The legend sang the famous 'Endaro Mahanubhavulu' upfront and later 'Paluke Bangaramayena' - two of my big time favourites!

At the beginning of the program, he was magnanimous enough to call Dr C Narayana Reddy as his manasika guru, one who inspired to him start writing compositions himself. He was also gracious enough to respond to the audience's requests. S Janaki requested 'Devi Brova Samayam Idhe' and he responded 'Idhena?' as if she herself was the 'Devi', before singing it. This somewhat contradicted a notion that he is a pompous artist; I found no traces of that yesterday.

My first run with "Hyderabad Runners"

2008-08-24T08:49:00.005+05:30

Today i had an opportunity to run with the Hyd Runners group at KBR park. We did the inner loop (4km) first and then the outer loop (6km). The much more experienced runners (several had multiple marathons under their belt) were gracious enough to let me run along with them though i am still a rookie. Rajesh egged me on and pulled me through the inner loop of 4kms. They then took off for the outer loop and i followed, miserable most of the time but determined to finish. The outer loop was almost 6 kms and had several steep ups and downs (some were just steps with no trail). I was surprised to see a very beautiful lake hidden inside the park, from one of the peaks in the outer trail. Was happy to eventually finish in 1 hour 09 minutes.

Apple Mac gaining

2008-08-24T08:37:00.003+05:30

Last week, I ran into two fairly successful professors who came from the US to Mysore to teach a course. What was common between them that they both used Apple Macbooks. That is not enough to make a trend per se, but I believe there is more to it than just coincidence.

The ipod has been setting scorching sales records and now it looks like Apple is also gaining on the computer sales front. Check this out to see that Apple is very strong on the retail sales front; Windows continues dominate OEM and institutional sales but Apple is approaching a critical mass. The Apple Mac ads have been a rage and now Microsoft is forced to counter them in a big way and has signed up Seinfeld himself for that!

Apple iStores have made their appearance in India - there is one in Banjara Hills, Hyderabad - giving Indians a closer look at the sex appeal of an Apple Macbook Air, to pick just one product. Apple also made a big launch yesterday of the iPhone tying up with Airtel and Vodafone - two large telcos in India.

"It's not about the bike!"

2008-08-23T22:08:00.003+05:30

One of the few books I have managed to finish rapidly in the recent past, is Lance Armstrong's autobiography "It's not about the bike". A hugely inspiring book - Lance makes no bones about how he grew up, raced, became a world champion, faced cancer, beat cancer, came back to win the Tour de France and became a father. I will soon cite some key snippets that impressed me the most. Lance's Texan style of writing is open, in the face yet friendly, and very transparent.

Would strongly recommend this book to anyone especially those Indian athletes now looking to beat the world post Beijing Olympics with London as the target.

Hyderabad Runners organise a great Marathon

2008-08-23T21:35:00.004+05:30

The Hyderabad Runners group, led by the resourceful Rajesh Vetcha, organised a marathon run last week, in association with the Hyderabad 10k foundation. I got to do a bit of '"squirrel's service" (ఉడుత భక్తి) as a volunteer in the UOH leg of the race (a squirrel had deposited grains of sand when Lord Rama was building a bridge over the sea to Lanka).

The event pulled together about 600 runners from all over the world and included the Grey Hound contingent from AP Police too. A very well organized run that drew appreciation from one and all. Hoping for more such events in Hyd and I look forward to run in them in addition to cheering from the sidelines.

More cribs about BIAL

2008-08-18T21:36:00.003+05:30

Two days after my post comparing the Bangalore (BIAL) and Hyderabad airports, Deccan Herald has published this interesting report citing that a team of the civil aviation ministry will visit BIAL tomorrow and inspect the facilities to see if the cribs are indeed true. The Airports Authority of India has already reported that the airport was facing severe capacity constraints putting passengers in great inconvenience. Against the allotted 12 to 20 per cent of space for commercial utilization, BIAL has used up to 30 per cent of the space! This has severely affected the passenger amenities particularly in the security hold area (SHA) where there is even lack of adequate space for toilets.

A Tale of Two New Airports

2008-08-14T21:58:00.011+05:30

The two new airports at Bangalore (BIAL) and Hyderabad (GMR-RGIAL) were much needed: traffic at Bangalore will touch 10 million this Fiscal Year and Hyderabad is expected to touch 7.5 million. The airports have now settled into steady state and one can compare the 'character' they begun to acquire. I personally find that on almost every count Hyderabad scores over Bangalore; and I am not saying this just because I am from Hyderabad.

Let us start with the time taken to commute to the airport. The commute from Electronics city to the Bangalore airport takes two to three hours. A similar journey from the Hyderabad IT district takes less than ninety minutes. Hyderabad is also building a huge 11 km expressway from Mehdipatnam to the highway from where the airport will be a smooth ride. Bangalore has no similar infrastructure in the works.
The approach roads are both comparable and 'world-class' but the landscaping along the road at Hyderabad is arresting and done very nicely. Even the round abouts closer to the airport at Hyderabad give a touch of class and lend a character to the entire edifice. Bangalore has nothing of this.
BIAL has both arrivals and departures at one single level which causes some confusion and clutter outside the airport. Hyderabad has two levels which streamlines inbound and outbound traffic and creates a lot 'space' and 'depth' to the structure.
Check in at both places is smooth. However after clearing security at Bangalore you run into this strip mall kind of atmosphere which is highly cluttered with lots of shops jostled next to each other. People queuing at the gates run into each other, in fact anyone going anywhere runs into each other and doesn't know here he is going. The Hyderabad sitting areas is much more spread out and has a lot of greenery with indoor plants decorating the place.
The colour schemes and layout of various buildings at Bangalore airport are not in sync with each other unlike Hyderabad.
The aerobridges at Hyderabad are all transparent gives a pretty neat feeling whether you are looking from outside-in or inside-out. Bangalore aerobridges are opaque (perhaps to place more ads inside), adding to the already claustrophobic feel you get at the departure gates.

Hope these two airports continue to compete with each other as they evolve and grow. After all traffic is expected to eventually take off further, not withstanding the dampening effect of the recent oil crisis.

Are we becoming more selfish?

2008-08-12T11:03:00.004+05:30

Not sure if this is enough anecdotal evidence on the loss of our collective 'Good Samratinism'. Over the last few months I have done several train journeys and usually things come together such that I get the responsibility of escorting senior lady citizens. Trains have sleeping berths in three tiers and the reservation systems somehow do a very poor job of allocating the lower berths to those who really need them - old, frail, disabled, pregnant etc. Most people perhaps just plump for lower berths even though they may not really need them.

And once you get onto the train, requests to fellow passengers for a lower berth exchange usually meet with a smirk and stare as if you are begging for alms. Perfectly healthy middle aged people pointedly refuse an exchange claiming they have a backache or leg pain, though they can clearly see the state of a 80 year old woman. Trying 25-30 people finally yields one positive result and the search is closed (a 'courtesy-hit-rate' of 4%). Last month, my mother met a pregnant lady who was requesting a lower berth and finally when amma agreed, she had to move to an altogether different compartment . The lady must have asked 75-80 people, a courtesy-hit - of 1.5%! What has been your experience with courtesy-hit-rates?

Gold, at last

2008-08-11T22:13:00.004+05:30

Today there were two sports headline news. One was India losing the third cricket test against Sri Lanka at Colombo. Nothing very surprising there in a game that eats up 95% of the country's attention and money. For all you know some bookies would have made huge money with kick backs to you-know-who.

The second less probable but infinitely more welcome news was an Indian finally winning an Olympic individual gold medal in shooting. It is fitting that in a country that has produced the like of Arjuna the mighty archer, a related sport brings us glory. I was just about write about the national humiliation that we are beginning to undergo at the Beijing Olympics and here come Abhinav with his outstanding performance. Now this one gold has gotten the monkey off our backs and the effect on other sports persons is already visible.

I've always held that India has a chance of winning gold most individual sports, funded by corporates, given our relatively poor 'team playing skills' and the huge scam the political-sports establishment is. Winning a gold at Olympics involves much more than raw talent - conditioning, grooming, medical attention, advanced equipment, careful diet and nourishment etc.

Let us hope this sets the trend for sports in India as a whole! In hindsight, the cricketing news should not have even made the headlines!

Interesting Times.. and somewhat empty roads!

2008-07-21T00:56:00.004+05:30

The times are surely interesting since I last posted on this blog! The government is close to running a very tight trust motion in Parliament two days from now. The ostensible reason is the nuclear deal with US which has kind of 'polarized' the Commies in India onto one side. Other smaller parties are busy trying to fish in troubled waters. My intuition and hope is that the governments gets the nuclear deal through. After that even if it falls a few months later, no sweat!

Oil has sky rocketed leading to numerous consequences for various people and governments, and the above is surely one of them. Nuclear energy even if it comes several years later, will reduce dependence on Middle East oil which will be good for us. Meanwhile there are supply cuts leading to queues at the fuel stations, and to somewhat empty roads. Not an entirely bad prospect for the traffic weary Hyderabadi!

Free Tibet!

2008-04-09T21:20:00.005+05:30

Something had to bring me back to this blog and break the silence going on for a while. And it is the chicken'ery by the Indian government on the Chinese crackdown in Tibet. India has been dumb for decades in its foreign policy with China - even while China annexed Tibet, invaded India impudently and even of late needles India with overt pacts with Pakistan and sermons (sic) us over human rights in Kashmir.

One's blood boils to see Tibetans with their backs to the wall, trying to make a feeble attempt to highlight their cause. Time is running out for them as soon the Chinese Hans will change the demography of Tibet forever. The Americans did it with the Natives in the 18th and 19th centuries, Australians with the Aborigines and now the Chinese with Tibetans and Uigurs - have the times really changed? Are we living in a modern free world at all?

More 'Aaraha hoon India' ads

2008-02-21T23:52:00.004+05:30

Six months ago, I wrote about an ad which shows a youngster chukcing his US visa to stay back in India, of course riding a Hero Honda bike. It is very exciting to see a few more ads in this genre:

GMR the Infrastructure major has a series of ad that simply announce India to the world. One of these shows an elderly couple waiting in tension for the result of their son's US visa appointment. The son knocks the door and bursts into a dance and is all smiles. Turns out he did not get the US visa and is celebrating the opportunity to stay back in India!
Saakshi (సాక్షి) a Telugu newspaper being launched this month, has some interesting ads about kids and youth who have there dreams centered in India. One shows a girl wanting to be a world famous Kuchipudi dancer, another has a girl dreaming to become an astronaut and my favuorite finally is the one showing a youngster riding a boat (a la Shah Rukh Khan in the movie Swadesh स्वदेश) and imagining a scenario where foreigners queue up to obtain a work permit in India!

Something simply unimaginabe just a few years ago is now being visualized and projected to the masses! Needless to say if these ads reflect what the popular imagination is, then India as a country is indeed seeing a turning point in its history. Let me know if you come across more such ads.

Nike+ Goals

2008-02-10T07:28:00.001+05:30

Some more on the Nike+ coolaid I have been drinking of late. Here's my Nike+ goal that is helping me get into those running shoes more often.

What next in IT Services?

2008-01-27T22:08:00.001+05:30

The blog post here by Basab in 6ampacific captures well what is going on (wrong) with the Indian IT Services industry. The stock prices of Indian IT biggies have taken a massive drubbing while the Sensex in general has been going from strength to strength in 2007. The recent market meltdown impacted IT stocks the least, partly because they were already beaten up black and blue.

With the rupee appreciation, larger volumes and the expected recession in the US the future is certainly not so rosy. What could turn around the futures of these companies? One or more of the following:

Some bold and aggressive acquisitions in the global market place taking their reach to new markets. Indian companies in general (not just IT ones) have a huge potential to acquire inefficient operations overseas and use their low cost models to deliver significant improvements in gross margins.
The rupee reaching a level of Rs 40 again on the back of a potentially deeper stock market correction, could mark a psychological threshold. With elections in India round the corner and the global recession there will be enough volatility around to make that possibe if not probable.
Launch of some bold IT products may still take some time, but that could kick in big time non linear revenue streams and not on mere head counts. TCS is already more than 100k heads, a humongous number and I clearly don't see them replacing the Indian Railways as the world's largest employer.

Nike Plus Rocks!

2008-01-24T20:15:00.001+05:30

I have been using Nike plus for about a month now and feel compelled to write this. Nike plus is an excellent example of a social network engineered by Nike and Apple together. The gadget itself is a combination of a Nike+ sensor and an ipod nano accessory. Of course you also need a ipod nano and a Nike+ capable running shoe that has a built in socket to hold the sensor.

Once you are set up, the sheer joy of integrating your music/podcasts with running is beyond words. Each time the ipod syncs, the run data goes to the nikeplus.com website where one can track the runs, goals, challenges, resolutions, trophies, route maps etc. The route map feature is great - noticed though that Hyderabad did not have as many maps as Bangalore and went about creating a few myself. All the running related activity has been superbly organised, letting one focus on getting motivated and staying the course. I am now close to completing my target of running 40kms this month and hope to set more targets in the coming months to eventually accomplish my goal of completing a half marathon.

Joker In The Pack - Life at IIMs

2008-01-24T19:56:00.000+05:30

One of the few books I managed to complete last month is titled "Joker in the Pack". It is a racy read and gives a pretty good glimpse about life at an IIM startign right from the graduation days to preparing for the CAT entrance exam and then cracking the interview. The story of how the protagonist then unleashes all the tricks in the trade to get ahead in the crazy rat race is well written. Of course he finally lands a plum job in a consulting firm though ends up losing out on his pre-MBA romance (only perhaps to go on to 'greener pastures'). The shamelessly opportunistic streak exhibited made me squirm at times but clearly the protagonist believes that any price is good as long as you win.

Bottom line: I will recommend the book to any MBA aspirant for the big picture view it provides for succeeding in life at an IIM.

Tata Launches Nano

2008-01-13T21:21:00.000+05:30

It is finally out! The Tata Nano is almost as cute and sexy as the Ipod Nano and holds the promise to revolutionise the way automobiles will be driven in India (potentially even the world). It portends a significant socio-economic revolution in the smaller towns of India and will potentially spur the development of more roads and allied infrastructure in the remote corners of the country. While that will take quite some time, be ready for crazier traffic in the big cities and saturation in the smaller ones. Some argue this is retrograde and screws up the environment but then one could argue development in general is bad? As long as this growth in mobility for the masses is balanced by better roads and infra, things should turn out well.

My admiration for the Tata Motors and Ratan Tata runs even deeper now post this launch. This Nano has established India solidly in global arena of automobile design. The perseverance of Ratan to hold on in West Bengal is admirable in the face of the daily brinkmanship by the vested elements to shut down the Nano factory. The guy is out to do good for Bengal by letting industry take roots once again. Let us hope that 'common people' in their thousands drive out to Singur a year from now with their little Nanos to express their solidarity and gratitude.

The Backwaters of Kumarakom

2007-12-30T22:47:00.001+05:30

Kumarakom is considered to be the epitome of Kerala's backwaters. I always had a fascination for Kumarakom: having read about the time former Prime Minister Vaypayee spent there penning his famous muse, having seen nice pictures of the Taj Heritage resort and having heard about Arundhati Roy spending time there getting inspired for book 'God of Small Things'.

We had some filler time after our trip to Sabarimala and before our journey back to Cochin to get to Hyderabad and headed straight to the Taj resort after a brief search for other options. They had a 2.5 hour trip through backwaters that was very expensive but we went ahead being a bit misled by the Arundhati Roy village story. We quickly realised early on in the trip that there was no separate destination and that all the nondescript things we saw were already part of it. Though our enthu was down, we went ahead but decided to cut short the trip by an hour or so.

The backwaters were idyllic with paddy fields on either side of the canals and lots of kids having fun in the water. I noticed several not-so-poor-kids asking for pens (used to asking the phirangis I guess). There were several houseboats of various sizes and hues. Some very four bedroom mansions on waters (costing 60-70 lakh rupees and rented out for Rs 30k per night) while others were more modest. We soon hit upon the open backwaters which was actually a huge lake that separated Kottayam district from Alleppey. The huge lake was like a sea and the boat sped like an arrow. We spotted sea birds too in addition to the cormorants and snake birds we saw earlier. The view here reminded me of the boat ride near Clearwater Beach in Florida, only thing missing was waterfront mansions owned by the movie moguls.

Once we were back the Taj staff were gracious enough to refund some of the money since we came back earlier. Overall it was a short and sweet trip leaving me longing to come back once more, this time to spend a leisurely day on a house boat.

Sabarimala

2007-12-30T22:08:00.000+05:30

Last week I had an opportunity to go on a short but intense pilgrimage to Sabarimala, the abode of Lord Ayyappa. Ayyappa is known to embody the two divine aspects - Siva and Vishnu. What I did not know was that there is a Masjid in the foothills involved in the story of his avatar; devotees pay their respects there as well before trekking to the main temple.

Guruvayur
We landed in Cochin on the night before and quickly took a cab to Guruvayur temple situated North of the city. There was a huge rush at the temple and it was reverberating with thousands of Ayyapa's devotees. The devotees were ecstatic chanting loudly and literally bouncing in the air. The darshan at Guruvayur was extremely brief and the light was very low, nevertheless my second visit to the historic temple was good.

Sabarimala
We made a quick halt at Erimeli the gateway to Sabarimala hills on the way back from Cochin. It was 2 am but the place looked like what Paris would on a similar Saturday night bustling with devotees. They were dressed like tigers, kinkaras and ascetics and chanting loudly running across the town. Somehow this verve and bounce was not that much visible in the actual climb to Sabarimala.

We then moved to Pamba and reached there by 4 am and took some time to get the climb started. The climb to Sabarimala is done barefoot and is about 6 km long. It must have taken us 3-4 hours to climb and the crowds were huge with the wait time for darshan rumoured to have been 12-18 hours! We were in the 'civil dress' queue not having taken the 41 day deeksha (vow), and the advantage is that the wait time was hardly 15 minutes. I managed to make a couple of more darshans and felt the trip was worthwhile after that. Prasadam was scarce due to some artifical crisis created, undoubtedly by the corrupt temple administration there. So ineffective is the administration that, inspite of a reputed 20 million devotees visiting each year the sanitary facilities enroute were pathetic and even inhuman. Attempts to have a setup similar to Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) appear stuck (see yesterday's article in the Hindu).

After a good darshan, the climb back started and it was definitely much tougher than the climb up. Walking downhill barefoot hurts the feet due to the sharp stones and one is forced to control the impact pulling on the calf muscles over 2-3 hours. Finally it was a huge relief to get back to Pampa and the comfort of the vehicle. We headed to Kottayam our place for the night halt.

Kottayam
Kottayam is a quaint little town that reminded me much of Mangalore. We stayed at the Mali hotel (next to the railway station) which had a decent room but everything else about the hotel was a sham. The Multi-gym was nothing but a dingy basement, the dinner was stale and stinking (an 'Andhra meals' board was setup to attract the majority Telugu crowds) and contrary to the promises there was neither a massage center nor a Jacuzzi! I ditched the meals there ended up having a hot Chapati based meal at the vegetarian restaurant in 'down town'. The next morning we purchased a lot of Kerala plum cake (it was Christmas eve!) and some golden stuff (Kerala is famous for less adulterated gold) before heading to the famous backwaters of Kumarakom.

The Running Bug

2007-12-09T11:51:00.000+05:30

Things kind of cooled down after the recent 10k I completed. However couple of days back I was in Mumbai and saw a banner for the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon. That planted a seed in my mind which kept growing and this morning I was flush with excitement at the prospect of going to Mumbai again on Jan 20 (about 6 weeks from now) to run my first half marathon. After checking a few websites about training schedules, I figured that I need at least 10-12 weeks of training before the attempt. That cooled down the enthu but then I saw several other cities hosting running events in India. I am now looking forward to the Chennai Marathon whose date is yet to be announced.

Hyderabad 10k - What a Run!

2007-11-26T21:48:00.000+05:30

Last week I wrote about the then planned Hyderabad 10k sponsored by Radha Realty. Well the run is done and what an event has it been! About twenty five thousand people turned up and it was like carnival time. All along the route one could see several bands play live music of all kings: Jazz, Rock, Metal, Telugu Film Music, Hindi Film Music to name a few. A few people sky dived from 6000 ft in air, dodged the thousands of colourful balloons let loose to land at the venue. After the run, there were a series of onstage shows blasting more Hindi Film Music. There were movie stars, sports celebs and politicians all hogging the limelight, but the true winners were the thousands of young men and women who woke up early in the day for the cause.

On the sidelines, the event also highlighted the many paradoxes that characterise India. While it attracted the young and upwardly mobile crowd in huge numbers, there were also several street boys busy collecting empty water bottles and left over food from the grounds. The Hussain Sagar lake venue was picturesque but also reeking of foul smell at several places, clearly lot of cleanup is still left. And at one part of the route, one could see a barber go about his regular business on the pavement blissfully unaware of the hungama around.

All in all, the event is gathering more and more critical mass and is setting the trend for future such events. Champion Chips were used for the first time. To me personally the fact that I finished a 10k for the first time was a big accomplishment. The event broke a myth I held, that completing a 10k requires one to be majorly fit. Fitness does impact the time taken, but finishing the 10k is something I now believe many people can aim for. I held a similar myth about 5k runs three years ago but that soon changed after I attempted my first one. I now hope to complete a 10k in under an hour, determined not to let go of this momentum. The goal after that is the half marathon version in next year's run.

10K Run in Hyderabad

2007-11-16T21:57:00.000+05:30

Hyderabad gears up to host a 10k Run about a week from now. This is the fourth time this annual event is being held and this year the expectation is that it will have about twenty thousand participants, an all time high. A half marathon is also being included, hopefully we will have the first marathon ever as well at Hyderabad next year.

Now those familiar with how this goes in the US or other Western countries, all kinds of runs 5k, 10k, 22k, 44k, 50k and even 100k are common events. The processes to organise the runs, canvass participants, publish results (check this site) are highly streamlined. Hyderabad 10k aims to do exactly the same for Hyderabad; though the whole affair seems to be taking a lot of time, effort and money, eventually this should reduce. One of the leading organizers Padmaja Reddy when asked if she is running the 10k remarked I run the rest of the year so that Hyderabad can run on this day. Among the other organisers, Pullela Gopichand is an amazing individual - he is one of the greatest Badminton players India ever had but is so down to earth.

Though I did run a 5k in the summer of last year at a not so bad speed, this 10k will be a challenge being my first. Looking forward to finish it at the least!

TiE-ISB Connect 2007 at Hyderabad - It Rocked!

2007-11-16T21:50:00.000+05:30

The TiE-ISB Connect event concluded at Hyderabad today. It was a wonderful gathering of some of the best minds in innovation, entrepreneurship, government exploring the latest and greatest happenings in various sectors of the economy - Internet and mobile, health care and life sciences, retail, infrastructure, emerging technologies etc.

It felt good to see a lot of people from all over India and abroad congregate here at Hyderabad. People from Bangalore, Coimbatore, Mumbai, Kalyan, Ahmedabad, Gibraltar, London, Silicon Valley, New York etc landed here. A friend from Bangalore was yet again impressed with the infrastructure in Hyderabad which allowed him to travel 33 kms to the event venue from Sainikpuri in less than an hour (compared to two and half hours in Bangalore).

The event is proving to be a lodestone for the best business minds all over and what more can a Hyderabadi expect!

Cricket Right-sized

2007-09-25T16:45:00.001+05:30

The recently held World Twenty 20 Cricket championship has finally produced a form of cricket that is intense, glamorous and doesn't consume an entire day. India winning this championship is another bonus! One hopes that the newly launched Indian Cricket League will further contribute to this trend by discovering more talent and launching even more spectacular shows. Corruption within the BCCI and all the money makers there will also hopefully reduce with the increased competition.

Cricket is generally considered a non athletic game, with most people on the field stationery at any given time, much unlike soccer. The duration also drags on for an entire day and the drag on productivity of the country is sizeable. With Twenty20 the game can go on and so can one's business for the day!

Microsoft's 'Imagine Cup'

2007-09-23T15:47:00.000+05:30

Microsoft organises an annual event, The Imagine Cup that aims to bring together the best of technology innovation amongst students onto a global forum. This year's theme was 'Imagine a world where technology enables better education for all' and the nine categories ranged from software design to embedded development, algorithm, web development, photography and short film. For Microsoft the benefits are huge - locate some of the brightest global talent many of whom may go onto join them, and also leverage their innovations into its products.

I had an opportunity to get a peek into this thanks to my cousin Chintalapati Arun Sharma whose Team Acumen was one of the contestants. It was heartening to see Arun and his team first qualify among 100,000 participants and then make it to the finals (only 8 teams in his category did so). It was very impressive to see this bright young man slog hard and put in several night outs on the project. On the final day of the project report submission, he was zipping around the city coordinating things, even though there was a major bomb blast just the previous day.

Their project titled TWIST (The Way I See Things) created a device that can help the visually challenged perceive images through touch. From the device's memory any requested image is translated to a set of 36x36 pixels which are then projected onto a tactile pad. This pad consists of pins which vary their height to create the perception of depth making it a Braille like language for pictures. The Hyderabadis happily travelled to Seoul all paid for by Microsoft of course! The kind of exposure they got was tremendous interacting with teams from across the world. I was reminded of my own horizon-broadening experiences (though much smaller in scale) when I first visited New Delhi for the KV National Games as a Class IX student, and later for my first interview for an IIM. For the generation of youth today, the opportunities to network and play on a global canvas are much more than ever before.

Eventually the six winning teams came from Thailand, Korea and Jamaica in software design and Brazil, Romania and China in embedded development. India could have perhaps done more considering that these winners were also not from Western nations.

Check out The Week's coverage of the event here and the Imagine Cup website.

Flyovers wreaking more havoc

2007-09-22T23:43:00.000+05:30

Last month I had posted about the long pending flyovers in Hyderabad. Unfortunately tragedy struck earlier this month and a portion of the one of the flyovers under construction at the busy Punjagutta junction crashed after heavy rains. Two persons perished in the incident which was caused by nothing but the gross negligence by the authorities.

Even now several days after the tragedy there are no findings on the root cause not any action taken on guilty personnel. The same dirty politics that dogs the construction is holding back any remedial action.

Main Aaraha Hoon India!

2007-09-22T23:37:00.000+05:30

Hero Honda is running a new TV ad on its fairly established bike model the CD 100. It starts with a young man pondering about what is there in America that is not present in India. This guy seems to have a job offer from one Mr. Richards as a building architect. He rides his bike with these thoughts, and then turns it around deciding that his designs will help him build a new India! Main Aaraha Hoon India (I am coming India!).

This is perhaps one of its first kind of ads that explicitly encourages Indian youth to leverage their talent and skills for India. Ads usually mirror what the public feels is cool or is the 'in thing'. And it sure feels good to see an ad like this run over and over again on the telly set.

Long Pending Fly Overs

2007-08-15T23:03:00.001+05:30

A common scene in Indian cities is construction of flyovers at busy road junctions. Though the contractors claim to use new technology (precast segments and all), these seem to take years to get built. Hyderabad seems to be slightly better off than Bangalore in the pace of flyover construction but that is hardly a consolation.

This is a paradox: after all technology is available, manpower is abundant and all required resources are plentiful. Then why these huge delays? I guess the answer lies in the regular approvals required by the government agencies and sub-contracting done to small parties which inevitably have the local politicians involved. Sometimes the flyovers have to be built over statues of some venerable (and many dubious) leaders. Removing them becomes a huge hassle. These squabbles lead to most of the delays, never mind the huge trouble commuters and the common man have to undergo.

Smooth traffic on I-Day

2007-08-15T20:37:00.001+05:30

Last month I had posted about the smooth traffic in Hyderabad on the US Independence Day which happened to be a week day. Today on the Indian Independence Day (another week day) the traffic at Hyderabad is even more easy with most people cooped up at home watching their favourite blockbuster movies on television. Driving is more comfortable and no where near the cacophony on the roads. One wishes we had more weekday holidays or a judicious distribution of holidays across the week to give more such breathers!

India: 60 yrs old or 16 yrs young?

2007-08-15T20:07:00.001+05:30

India celebrates its sixtieth year of Independence today. While the first few decades were kind if sleepy, India really took off post 1991 when the then Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao launched key reforms that liberated the economy. PVNR in that aspect held fort for give good years and did more good for India than any other Prime Minister before him.

For those whose youth has coincided with this phase, the experience of India is vastly different from their parents' who witnessed a youth of shortages, high unemployment and denial of basic goodies in life - telephones, cars, air conditioners etc all due to the government wanting to regulate supply. Governance and politics is still not very good but hopefully with the new generation knocking on the doors, things will change soon. Business Standard has a nice editorial today, aptly titled Chak De India.

I wistfully imagine what would have been possible if India had not undergone partition. A freedom struggle that was by and large non-violent thanks to Gandhi culminate in gruesome murders of five million Indians. A more assertive freedom struggle early on would have perhaps taken a far lesser toll of lives, and realised freedom faster. And in the process the manipulations of the British to divide India would not have succeeded. A United India could have emerged faster sans the Kashmir, Bangladesh turmoils. Enough has been said about the personalities and egos of Nehru and Jinnah, the chief players at the time of Partition and Independence.

Anyway the story of India's growth is now sixteen years young and holds as much promise as our last tryst with destiny in 1947. I will any day prefer this sweet sixteen to sixty!

Business of Law In India

2007-08-04T20:26:00.000+05:30

As the Indian economy integrates more and more with the global economy, the demand for skills in the Legal arena is sky rocketing. I got to see this first hand yesterday.

I enrolled for a proximate education program with the NALSAR University of Law Hyderabad, one of the Top 2 Law Schools in India. The course is a PG Diploma in Internet/Cyber Law and funnily out of the 50 people who turned up, only two persons were from the IT industry - a Security Specialist from Wipro (who was also a lawyer) and myself. There was a third person, a lady who just completed her MCA and took the course because her husband was in Law; so I wouldn't count her. There were a considerable number of women in the group, about 40% - a reflection of the growing presence of women in Indian academia and soon industry too!

Coming to the point, a law graduate may earn Rs 5000 per month in Hyderabad at the entry level and perhaps upto Rs 25000 per month in a place like Delhi which is the legal capital (being the political capital) of India. Graduates are choosing between a cushy private sector job in non-litigation vs. the rough and tumble of litigation in courts, which pays less (numbers mentioned before) but hones the person much better for the long term. A litigation expert will go on to then earn huge sums once he is established and makes a name for himself, say Rs 2.5 million for a mere appearance in the court. Corporate jobs on the other hand pay more in the beginning but the career path usually hits a glass ceiling. Now in the US that need not be the case, there are several corporates especially in Insurance Industry where lawyers have gone on to become CEOs.

India is catching up in the legal space now and both the academia and industry are abuzz now with all the growth. Number wise, we still have a long way: 1 judge per 180 people (US has 1 per 30 and Europe 1 per 60); it still take 3-5 years for a case to settle (8 months in US and 18 months in Europe).

India Gets A Slavish President

2007-07-28T23:16:00.000+05:30

Indian legislators elected a lady as its President for the first time last week. While this should have been good news, the unfortunate reality is that this was perhaps the first President elect who had several cases of impropriety raised against her. And she replaces a man who set one of the highest standards of honesty and propriety in public life. What a contrast!

All because the ruling establishment wants a spineless character doing their bidding when election time comes two years from now. It feels really sad to see a great man leave Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Indian Traffic Flows Smooth On US Holiday

2007-07-04T21:30:00.000+05:30

The traffic at Hyderabad is usually bad and a journey of about five kilometers from Mehdipatnam to Liberty takes about 20-25 minutes. However today the traffic flowed very smoothly and the distance took half the usual time.

The reason was not too difficult to discover; today is a holiday in the US on and consequently most of the BPO offices had a holiday. Most of the IT folks also would have left office early with no late evening teleconferences holding them back. As a result there was far less cacophony on the roads, the BPO cab drivers all had a day off leaving the roads less of a battle field, and traffic in general flowed smoothly.

We should encourage the US to declare more holidays in the interest of more peace on the Indian roads.

Hyderabad Places I - Indira Park

2007-06-30T22:23:00.000+05:30

Indira Park has fast become one of my favourite places at Hyderabad. I have been on the lookout for a green place near my residence. Indira Park was the perfect answer - lush green trees, a 1500 metre jogging track, large lake all spread over 76 acres! So weekend mornings and some rare weekday evenings are spent at this beautiful place.

The place is very busy in the mornings with people of all ages thronging the place for their morning walk. A lot of children heavily use the play area. Evenings is when the park has less people with a few lover-pairs dotting the landscape. The park also has some tennis courts and two skating rinks for kids. I have also seen some kayaking in the lake in addition to the regular canoes. An interesting side bar is a series of natural rock sculptures that resemble various animals.

The action outside the park is no less interesting. A variety of hawkers vend their health/fitness friendly foods ranging from herbal soup, sprout mixes, berries, fruits, vegetables etc. Sometimes (out of job) politicians and other activists make the road opposite the park their venue for protests.

All in all a great place right in the heart of the city, to spend a few hours and come back rejuvenated.

Unfulfilled Potential & Avoidable Suffering

2007-06-30T21:49:00.001+05:30

Jayaprakash Narayan, the founder and head of the Loksatta Party speaks of two cardinal sins widely prevalent in our country. One is unfulfilled potential and the other is avoidable suffering.

Each time I see a construction worker building yet another swanky glass building hosting an IT company, I am reminded of the first phrase; where did this man/woman/boy/girl come from? The same person with some education and exposure would have easily blossomed into an average blue/white collar employee.Instead she is stuck in a menial job with a bare minimum wage, no insurance, no benefits and in fact there is some risk to life.

A few days ago, I came upon an accident scene on the Gachibowli highway, four auto rickshaw passengers lost their lives as a truck zoomed through the median gap in the highway. Couldn't the gap in the highway been placed away from a direct street entry point? On the health care side there is a litany of such stories all speaking of massive avoidable suffering.

For some reason these two phrases have stuck in my mind, and summarise our country's state in simple terms.

Why Do I Blog

2007-06-29T22:19:00.000+05:30

I guess the title should rather read 'When Do I Blog?'. Of late my frequency of blogging has reduced and a blog without regular posts goes dry as garden without water.

I have often quizzed myself on what makes me blog? The fact that many readers open the posts and read them is exciting; but it is not just for recognition that I blog (a blog like this doesn't get too many readers anyway). Neither am I claiming a thought leadership space in my area of profession.

Then what is it? I guess it is pure venting i.e, whenever something bothers me too much or excites me, I pick up the key board and start typing. Such moments regularly happen; the challenge is to get straight to the key board. Also when I start writing about a topic I am passionate about, it engenders introspection (forcing me to clarify things to myself), and makes me a bit more humble since whatever I write is for the sake of it and not because huge numbers are are reading it. Seth Godin clearly articulates this as Respect and Clarity (link below).

The other major trigger is that the blog gives me a sense of identity apart from what I do for a living. That in itself is liberating!

Seth's Blog: If no one reads your post, does it exist?

Medury Family in Business Today

2007-05-21T22:04:00.000+05:30

Business Today in its 'BT Money' section has a special, focusing on 'Portfolio For Your Kids'. They have covered a few families across the country on how they plan to do it, and as luck would have it we happened to be one. They started by asking a series of questions on planning for the child's education and financial planning in general.

Above image is copyright the India Today Group

You can get the June 3, 2007 edition of the magazine (out on the stands from today) and flip to Page 133. Here is the link to this article in BT (requires a paid subscription): http://www.business-today.com/btoday/20070603/pfin2.html

Prosperous India by 2025!

2007-05-20T23:41:00.000+05:30

Here is what I took away (in my words again) from Gurcharan Das on his predictions about future growth in India. This in continuation to my previous post on this topic.

"The most remarkable thing about the first quarter of 21st century will not be the 9/11 attacks in US, but the rise of India and China. In the year 1750 most nations of the world were more or less equally well off (or worse off). The industrial revolution bought tremendous prosperity to the West in the 19th century; something similar happened in the Far East during 1950 to 1990. But by 2025 the wheel would have started turning full circle for India and China with their economies achieving critical mass.

"The Middle Class was about 8% of the total population in India in 1990. Today it is 28%! And NCAER predicts that by 2020, it will cross to about 50% of the population. This will happen in about two-thirds of India and the rest (the likes of Bihar) will take some 20 more years to catch-up. You could draw an imaginary line from Kanpur to the southern tip of Andhra Pradesh - the areas west of this line will fall in this 2/3rds (you may have to cheat and swap Coastal AP with Telangana). Now such regional disparities are bound to occur as you have Gujarat's economy growing at 12% compared to Bihar at 1.1%. In the USA too, the American South was dirt poor till the Second World War but the invention of air conditioning drastically changed everything with cities like Houston, Dallas and Atlanta booming. Similarly Italy and Spain were also poor compared to the rest of Western Europe till the First World War. Obsession with only inequality is misguided as it risks pulling back everyone; what is needed it creating an environment to lift the poor. In this context internal migration will perhaps be our safety valve - the Indian Railways sells about 4.8 billion tickets a year, that is almost 4 journeys per person per year!

"The net result is that by 2025 the number of poor in India will reach a manageable proportion! Of course all the above will need good institutions that ensure law and order, stable governance and property rights".

Now there is a S-curve relationship between prosperity and governance. As governance improved in India beginning 1991, prosperity increased and now we have been seeing 8%+ growth rate in the GDP for past several years. But as the size of the government has decreased in relative terms to the size of the economy, the quality of governance has dipped with politicians seeking as much 'rent' as possible from their positions before getting voted out in the next election. This has an adverse impact on further growth of prosperity. For more growth, a reform in governance has to occur and the hunch is this will 'automatically' happen as the middle class becomes sizeable. Then we will truly see an acceleration in India's growth and we will be well on our way!

Selflessness Vs. Self-Interest

2007-05-20T23:18:00.000+05:30

Last Wednesday I jumped on the opportunity of listening to Gurcharan Das in person. Gurcharan is the former CEO of Procter & Gamble India and is a leading thought leader. I make sure I read his bi-weekly column in the Sunday Times. Though the occasion was the eve of the International Telecom Day celebrated by the IEEE at Hyderabad's Viswesvaraya Bhavan, he chose to expand the scope and cover what is bogging India today.

"One is the idea of selflessness and how it does not help making a nation prosperous. The likes of our Communists, Medha Patkars and even Mother Teresa, are at times condescendingly presumptuous that their acts help bring the nation prosperity. Their attitude ridicules people who espouse self-interest as not self-less. Our politicians too romanticise heroic acts of selflessness rather than encourage enilghtened initiative which stems from self-interest.

"Take an example of a carpenter using a cellphone - he is able to take more customer calls and plan his day better and make more money. The cellphone as a technology device increases his productivity and hence adds to the nation's wealth. Neither Nokia, nor Mr Mittal (of Airtel), nor the cellphone dealer, not even the carpenter is engaged in selfless behaviour here - yet their combined actions have resulted in a massive revolution in the nation's productivity and wealth! As Adam Smith said about this more than 200 years ago - 'The invisible hand that transforms self-interested behaviour to the good of society and the prosperity of the nation'.

"Selfishness and Self-interest are two different things with the latter being guided by principles of wealth creation. Perhaps Bhishma was wrong in The Mahabharata, when he took a self-less vow to remain celibate. Had he demonstrated self-interest by growing the clan, the history of India would have taken a different turn!"

SEZ Land Travails & Opportunity Cost

2007-05-06T22:59:00.000+05:30

There is a heated debate going on in India about securing land for industry. There are those who really need land for setting up an industry, and there are also allegations that some are grabbing land in the name of industry. Business Today had a good piece on this in their latest issue. I have no comments yet on how much land an industry really needs. However I will hold as in an earlier post that we need to kick start large scale manufacturing that can employ millions. If a 50 sq km patch of land with no red tape and hassles lets us have it, then so be it!

What is more important is to understand the massive opportunity cost involved in these humongous delays the government is creating in closing the SEZ decision. We are losing crores of rupees by the hour and I am not exaggerating. Taking an example, Times of India reports that Infosys is being shown an alternate site for a new campus at Hyderabad; this is an year after they were originally allotted land at a site near the new International airport, but the government bungled big time and did not close the decision quickly. It is also reported that this new campus will accommodate 25,000 employees. Now a typical IT Services major can generate at least Rs 2500 crores revenues on such a base (being conservative). Take into account the multiplier effects, that is 100,000 more downstream jobs in the economy delayed by an year! Sheer profits wise that is at least Rs 500 crores in an year. The opportunity cost is criminal, which our politicians will not understand. They will be only too happy to take small time bribes to facilitate decision of much lesser consequence.

One Trillion Finally

2007-04-27T08:19:00.001+05:30

Indian economy hits the one trillion mark finally! Yes that is a huge landmark and how did we get there? Part of it is the searing growth the economy has seen in the last 3-4 years but some of it is also due to the big jump the rupee has had in the last 3-4 weeks. That should do good for our import bill but our exporters are not too happy.

IT Services Biggies have just announced another round of stellar results but the rupee movement must be throwing a spanner in the works. In the long run a strong rupee is good for the economy. IT Service exporters will need to get used (and overcome) the impact of an appreciating rupee and dwindling tax concessions as the Software Technology Park tax holidays come to an end.

Patriotic Professional Vs. Professional Patriots

2007-04-15T23:14:00.000+05:30

The politicians in Karnataka are up in arms against NR Narayana Murthy, for his alleged stand on the National Anthem. At a function in Mysore in which the President of India participated, the National Anthem was played in instrumental as NRN felt it may embarrass the non-Indians in the audience if it had been played as a song with lyrics.

Now in the Olympics, a gathering as multi-national as possible, National Anthems are always played in instrument for all the medal winners. Hence his feeling is not entirely misplaced given that Infosys is now a company were people of several nationalities come to work. The problem is this topic falls in a gray area and there is no set precedent or a law about how the National Anthem should be played, unlike in the case of the National Flag.

What is ironic about this episode is that politicians (many of them with criminal records) are questioning the patriotic credentials of a man who has done far more for the country than many of them combined. It is a clear case of the politicians for whom patriotism is a profession, ganging up against a professional of the highest order.

Pre-Emptive Billing = Extortion

2007-04-06T08:47:00.001+05:30

After the first sensual appeal of a new glittering car, everything financial about it after the purchase is murky. Have you ever dealt with a used car salesman or a glib car mechanic? We all know how much of a rip-off these encounters are.

Yesterday I gave my car for servicing to Malik Motors, a dealer for Tata Motors at Tolichowki, Hyderabad. Obviously they offered all sorts of additional services beyond the basic oil check, fluid refills. And after servicing the car billed me a fuel performance product without even checking with me, the customer. They just assumed that I will buy it given its touted benefits since it just cost another two hundred rupees. Now rolling back that transaction in their billing systems took them another 30 minutes when I was really hard pressed for time. The added assumption here was given the difficulty of reversing the transaction, the customer would meekly accept it and fork the additional money.

I noticed they were using a sophisticated real time customer relationship system deployed by Tata Motors to track the history of each car that has ever rolled of its stable. However the aggressive and preemptive billing behaviour was anything but sophisticated. There is a thick line dividing proactive customer service and extortion. Too bad they found it an easy jump across.

ps: This happens to be my first post from a mobile phone (edited later on Blogger)

IT Services Or IT Products Or Something Else?

2007-04-01T01:42:00.000+05:30

There is an interesting debate going on a couple of blogs about what India needs most today to power economic growth. Is it IT Services Or IT Products? Which one should the enlightened pursue harder and which has the potential to contribute better to economic growth? Sramana argues for products while Basab defends the IT Services story.

It is now a well established fact that the downstream impact of the IT-ITES industry on the Indian economy is manifold. NASSCOM recently released the results of its study on the multiplier effects. Here is a quote from the indianeconomy blog:

* For 1 job created in IT-ITES, 4 jobs are created in rest of the economy
* Re 1 spent on OPEX generates additional output of Rs 0.9 (Multiplier 1.9x). Re 1 spent on CAPEX generated additional output Re 1 (Multiplier 2x)
* Re 1 spent by IT-ITES professionals generates additional output of Rs 1.1 (Multiplier 2.1x)
* In terms of potential impact on the economy by 2010, total economic output could be as high as $120 billion, while jobs created (direct+indirect) could cross 115 million

While the case for IT products is also undeniable, India first needs more of labor intensive industries, preferably the manufacturing types that employ low skilled labor more than it needs IT products. That alone will establish a large industry base that when maturing will generate demand for IT products - yes, you need to first serve local markets before taking on global ones like every successful product major. Look at who the successful Indian companies are buying IT products from? If you take the case of India's incredibly successful telecom sector as an example, most of the top players (Bharti Airtel, Idea, Hutch Essar) have engaged IBM for its products and platforms (services too).

In addition to the direct contribution to GDP a manufacturing base will also generate demand for Indian IT products. Most companies often cited (the likes of Microsoft, Nokia) catered to local markets first before going global and increasing their revenues per employee (Microsoft is more than half a million per employee and Nokia is closer to a million per employee). A solid manufacturing industry base will also guarantee that more low skilled people will get lifted out of poverty and thus ensure political stability leading to continued reform which will in turn create the right ecosystem for generating Intellectual Property. Today's well known constraints that inhibit this include a hamstrung archaic labour laws, VC ecosystem, overloaded judiciary etc.

Once you have sufficient milk in the vessel, churn will automatically happen to produce cream! As Indian industry matures, IT product companies that cater to them will mushroom and then blossom to take on the world! So let us first help by pushing the Indian establishment to organise reforms that spur low skill intensive manufacturing. Products will take care of themselves.

"Guru Is A Sh** Film"

2007-03-31T23:05:00.000+05:30

'Dhirubhaism' a book on the late Dhirubhai Ambani (founder of the Reliance group) authored by AG Krishnamurthy (founder of Mudra Communications) has been recently released. Mukesh Ambani provides a foreword. The book is a short swift read and is excellent value for money.

Crossword a leading bookstore hosted the author for a talk on the book today evening at Hyderabad's City Centre Mall. The author spoke in glowing terms about Dhirubhai, his vision, audacity to dream big etc. The book may not be voluminous but it has fifteen short and simple chapters each explaining Dhirubhai's remarkable work philosophy in fifteen bullets ('Roll up your sleeves to help', 'Think Big', 'Change your orbit constantly' etc).

To a question on whether the movie Guru really reflected Dhirubhai's life, the simple answer from the author was: "Guru is a sh*t film". RK Narayan the celebrated author also had similar feelings about the film version of his successful book 'The Guide'. Now both Guru and Guide were reasonably big hits at the box office. Wonder what happens when an original work gets crafted into a film version aiming to appeal for the masses.

A Billion Blues

2007-03-28T22:38:00.001+05:30

The media is now crying hoarse about the dismal performance of India's cricket team. All the while the media and the marketer's greedily loved hyping up the 'Blue Billion' (Pepsi's pet phrase), but all went in vain as the team lost twice and failed to make it to the next round (Bangladesh and Ireland are two notables who made it).

Infosys founder NRN advises the cricket establishment to follow processes and not mock it (referring to the massive political interferences plaguing selections and engagements). The system is so riveted by indiscipline, greed and corruption that it does not let good players emerge. Even the so called stars take it easy once they begin to enjoy power and money. Finally there are some calls for big and struggling stars like Sachin Tendulkar to retire. These stars are resting on past laurels and pulling along to keep their batting averages against minnows like Namibia, Kenya and Bermuda [see Shekhar Gupta's editorial in Indian Express and Ian Chappel's call to Sachin to retire]. Real performers like VVS Laxman who have won tough matches against strong teams have languished for not playing the political game.

This sorry state of cricket reflects that of sport in general in India (see this list of the Athens 2004 Olympics medals per million population). And believe me this cricket loss will simply pale in comparison to the performance India puts up in the upcoming 2008 Beijing Olympics. China will leverage the platform to the hilt showcasing its new wealth and the tens of medals it will win to proclaim its rise in the World. Don't be surprised if they even overtake America's medal tally. Our establishment will be happy if we bag a single medal (like in the 2004 Athens Olympics), or may be not even bother.

HYSEA's Technology Day

2007-03-28T22:37:00.000+05:30

Today at the Hyderabad Software Exporter Association's Technology Day, there were a few interesting talks.

IT Services
Sudin Apte of Forrester opined about the rapidly polarising IT Service's industry. The Top 3 players are growing rapidly (40-50% CAGR) while the smaller companies are getting left behind. The rest of Top20 grew at half the Top3 rate and have profit margins in the 18-19% range compared to 24-25% of Top3. The rest outside the Top20 had margins in the 12-13% range. Three years ago the Top3 were 26% of the industry but now they are 41%. The ABN Amro deal made big news last year with TCS and Infosys winning huge chunks but it is a less known fact that six smaller Indian firms got kicked out ABN at the same time. The smaller companies look set to be vaporised by the bigger ones without even too many acquisitions owing to trends on the demand side and supply side!

The so called 'Billion Dollar babies' - companies which recently grossed $1B in annual revenues - HCL, Satyam, Cognizant will have an year ot two before they either graduate to bigger league or stagnate and lose industry position. A Tier-2 player just cannot aim to succeed by attempting to be a mini-TCS or a mini-Infosys, offering all kinds of services to a small set of clients. The IT services industry has just gotten tougher to enter and a startup cannot achieve unless it executes to a carefully nurtured niche.

Web 2.0
Ramesh Loganathan of Pramati gave an excellent post-lunch talk on Web 2.0 and later ended up giving a pitch on his companies new Web-Desktop integration offering Dekoh ('look' in Hindi). The product sounded cool but there was nether a live demo nor a canned demo. Later I checked Pramati's website and they actually have some cool Web 2.0 demos but no mention of Dekoh.

'Let a Million Markets Bloom'

2007-03-28T22:36:00.000+05:30

IBM in collaboration with the Economic Times organised a session titled "Let a million markets bloom: How Innovation is Fuelling India’s Growth Engine” last week in Hyderabad. It was ostensibly aimed at CEOs and CIOs but the audience had just a few of them. However it was impressive to see first hand IBM continue its juggernaut in India, reinforcing its branding around the Innovation theme. No wonder IBM is snapping up huge billion dollar plus deals with Indian Telecom Companies (Bharti Airtel, Idea and now even Hutch). All this while the Indian IT service players still struggle to strike large ($100+ million dollar) deals in the global arena. And did you know that IBM shares revenues with Airtel? It is accountable for its client's business outcomes! Something that the Indian IT players are only now talking about for their Fortune 1000 customers. IBM is coming into India in a big way, building a huge Indian work force and winning Indian business.

IBM showcased its recent study on innovation trends across the globe and a speaker shared the findings which were threefold:

Business model innovation matters (focus on products, services, markets & operational innovation). CIOs should plan for scalability of IT to match and promote business growth.
External collaboration is indispensable. CIOs should plan for applications which facilitate internal and external collaboration.
Business & Technology integration is imperative.

I was surprised to see the distribution of priorities assigned by Global CEO/CIOs between various kinds of innovation to be exactly as the Indian counterparts voted. One would think that in an fast emerging market like India, a CEO would be focused on building scale and market presence; whereas in a developed market the focus would be on optimising the business model and wringing out cost efficiencies.

The subsequent panel discussion was a very good one. Sivaram Tadepalli (IT Lead for the GMR International Airport at Hyderabad) did a good job explaining how technology integrates with their business. He later explained how the new airport is rapidly getting built and was excited about the outcomes. Sangeetha Reddy of Apollo Hospitals made some good comments and IBM's India Head Nipun Mehrotra provided a good summary. So in all a good event despite the live cricket telecast they briefly showed of the India vs Srilanka match which India ultimately lost and got kicked out of the Cricket World Cup.

Geni For Your Family Tree

2007-03-17T11:37:00.000+05:30

Last week I wrote about the 10x factor in the price to cost ratio for service bluechips. Now a different 10x struck more, one much more exciting: Geni an internet startup that raised $10m of venture capital in late-February was able to take it itself to a $100m valuation. Obviously some seed and angel money went in before that $10m but what an amazing rise!

That prompted me to go to Geni and play with it - I found it really cool. I have been searching for a good Family Tree software for some time and Geni seems the perfect fit. The usability of the site is a real 'wow' factor. Any Internet business builder can learn several lessons in designing a simple and beautiful UI that rocks. I am curious to see how easily it merges family trees that two related people build out separately.

One funny thing on the My Profile page though - you get to mark a checkbox that says whether you are living or not and then enter many posthumous details about yourself!

Pushing Startups To The Fringes

2007-03-08T22:24:00.000+05:30

In his latest Budget the Indian Finance Minister has proposed Fringe Benefit Tax on stock options that employees exercise starting April 1, 2007. Now it may appear a great way to collect additional taxes (assuming FBT = Marginal Tax of 33%), but the long term impact will be stifling innovation and increasing employee churn in the Indian economy. Startups will find it even more difficult to attract/retain talent with ESOPs as the net gains post exercise are diminished.

Employees with vested options are now forced to exercise them which means no more exit (quit) barriers. Though an option grant typically takes 4-5 years to vest, the total lifecycle is much longer. Vested options take another 5 years to expire which means a manager conserving cashflows will tend to stick around that much longer, almost a decade. Now a decade is a long time, and often committed managers is all that separates a stunted SME to one that really grows wings to become a bluechip. Just look at the number of 'major' IT Services companies in the early nineties, that have now fallen by the wayside.

For now, look for increased attrition at mid and senior levels across industries, rising wage inflation (employers will have to compensate for unattractive esops) and one more setback to the nascent startup-ecosystem in India. Unless the government realises the total impact and pegs FBT at a reasonable 10-12% range.